Prince and Me (Part 3): The Royal Wedding
by Cara223
Summary: While planning for their royal wedding, Paige and Eddie find themselves in a new challenge- receiving the approval from Parliament for the marriage to take place. As they struggle to fight Parliament for their right to wed, Paige and Eddie must consider the alternatives. Will Eddie abandon the throne in order to marry his bride? Does true love truly surpass all challenges?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

After everything that had happened, like our break-up and miscarrying the baby, Eddie decided that an evening out with him, my mother, and my brother would be good for me, especially since they were going to leave in a few days. I sat in the front seat with Eddie and would turn around to talk to my mother and brother. It was so nice to have them around, especially during this hard time. I would really miss them when they left.

I had officially caught up on all of my schoolwork, and my teachers even had excused my absences after I provided a doctor's note, verifying that I truly needed to miss those days. My life was slowly becoming normal again. Well, a normal life for a girl engaged to the King of Denmark.

The press continued harassing us, especially after Johnny yelled at them and told them that I had just miscarried. However, the palace refused to talk to any of them or answer any of their questions. Every magazine and TV show was buzzing about the possibility of a royal baby as well as the royal scandal. Apparently if we had a child together without getting married, the child wouldn't have been in line for the throne according to Danish law. Eddie told me that if I had not lost the child, he would have fought to change the law since we were going to married.

Continuing about the press, they were still forbidden to corner me at school, and sometimes I would see security walking around campus. I know that the security was for me. Actually, I should have a bodyguard, but I explained to Eddie that it wasn't necessary at school. If I ever felt like I was in danger, I promised that I would call him or one of the security guards but so far, I had no issues.

I turned to Eddie in the car and for the first time in a long time, I felt genuinely happy. I was surrounded by those who loved me, and I couldn't be happier. Eddie was being super supportive and understanding after losing the baby. Even though I was still mourning and sad about everything that had happened, I was able to come to terms with it all and slowly move on and continue my life.

"So, when is the big day? Have you decided on a date yet?" My mom asked me.

"Yeah, speculation about the date has been all over the tabloids. I figured I could sell them the date and make a little extra cash before I went back to school," Johnny said, jokingly.

I turned around and tried to hit him playfully.

"You're not allowed to talk to the press anymore," Eddie said laughing, but I knew he was referring to when Johnny yelled at the reporters and told them that I had a miscarriage and to leave alone.

"I know, my mouth speaks before my brain thinks. Next time, I'll make something up really juicy," Johnny said laughing.

Even though I was originally mad at Johnny for telling the world my secret, which explained why I was in the hospital, I understood about getting caught up in the moment and yelling at the press. I had done it before too.

"The press would have figured it out sooner or later," I said. "They're sneaky like that."

"So, seriously- when do you both want to have the wedding?" My mom asked.

I turned to Eddie and smiled. We had discussed a date, but nothing was set in stone yet.

"Well," Eddie said smiling back at me. "We were thinking about this summer. That way, Paige would be out of school. Also, it gives us the six months needed to do the marriage preparation in order to get married in the church."

"Our biggest issue is that I want a Catholic wedding, and Eddie wants a Lutheran wedding," I said. "So, we have to decide on that before we find a minister and a church," I explained.

"Every Danish royal has been married by a Lutheran minister, and their children are later christened as Lutheran," Eddie argued calmly. "It's tradition!"

"And we are all Catholic," my mom said.

"We're talking about it," I said. "Although the one thing that we have agreed on is that we don't want a huge royal wedding. We want a private wedding that is shared with just our close family and friends. It'll have to be a secret from the press. So Johnny- no talking to anyone!" I said turning around to smile at him. "We just want it to be a day that we share with the people we care about and not the entire country."

"My mother and the people will be furious about it, but I don't want all of our moves, motions and words analyzed the entire day. Normal weddings are stressful enough; we don't need the extra stress. We just want to enjoy the day." Eddie explained.

"Well, at least you've agreed on something," my mom said.

"The only issue is the planning the wedding. We may have to give the press a fake date so that Paige can go dress shopping, we go cake shopping together, plan the wedding, etc. Otherwise, the press will know," Eddie explained.

"But what about the food? If the food is delivered early, the press will be all over it," my mom asked.

"We've thought about that," I said. "We'd ask the kitchen staff to prepare the food for the reception. We'll say that it is for a party, which is true. Also, even if they suspect anything, they can't say anything that goes on in the palace. They'd be dismissed if they did. The only thing is getting the cake on time..." I said, thinking.

"We'll figure it out," Eddie said reassuringly.

I smiled at him, completely unaware of the next challenge that we would be facing in our relationship.

Chapter 2

Eddie's Point of View:

After finishing yet another boring day at Parliament, I was extremely relieved when I heard them come to an agreement on the current tax issue. Thankfully, taxes were not being raised and were decided to be lowered .5%. I knew that the Danish people would be thrilled to hear the news.

Since we had finished with that item off of the agenda, it was time that I added my own item onto the list.

"Gentlemen, as many of you already know, Ms. Paige Morgan and I are engaged to be married. Now, according to Danish law, I need the approval of Parliament as well as the acting retired queen, which is currently my mother, in order to proceed with this marriage. Since we have finished with the discussion on taxes, I was hoping we could get your approval and then we could move onto the next item- public school system," I said, looking over at my agenda and writing a quick note.

Some of the members of Parliament nodded at me, giving their approval of my idea, while others looked dumbfounded at me.

"What makes you think you're going to get our approval?" I heard Alfred, a member of Parliament, ask me.

I laughed nervously.

"Well, I don't quite understand why we wouldn't get your approval," I said, being confident in my words and actions.

"There are a few reservations about Ms. Morgan that need to be discussed," Fredrick, another member, replied.

"Like what? What are you concerned about?" I asked, leaning forward slightly in my chair.

Now, I was getting concerned. Was this seriously going to be an issue?

"I don't believe that we should get involved in these types of matters. I think we should simply give our approval and move onto the next item," George argued for me. "Unlike several of you, I have personally met Ms. Morgan, and she has outstanding qualities that would make her an excellent queen."

"I just think that this matter needs to be discussed and not simply pushed under the rug," Alfred said.

"I agree," Fredrick chimed in. "I have several reservations about her."

"Would someone please tell me about these reservations?" I asked. "Because I truly don't see what the issue is here."

"There are several rumors circulating about Ms. Morgan. She hasn't been faithful to you, she appears to have an addiction problem, and we just don't believe she is here for the right reasons," Fredrick said.

"She has been faithful to me, and she was in the hospital not for an addiction problem but due to a rather personal reason. We both love each other," I protested.

"We just think that the next Queen of Denmark shouldn't have these type of rumors circulating since there is usually some truth to them," Alfred said.

"What happened between me and Ms. Morgan stays between us. Granted, we have had some obstacles, but we have worked through everything," I said, pointing to the picture of Paige "kissing" Jake. Alfred had started getting out newspaper clippings and placing them on the table. I didn't feel like getting into that it was fake and everything else that had happened.

"Then, she was in the hospital for a drug overdose and then the media was reporting that she was pregnant...It's just scandal after scandal. We can't have that here," Alfred said, going through the newspaper articles.

"You do realize that 99% of those rumors are completely false, right?" I said. "The press is always printing rumors and lies! This is nothing new," I argued.

"Then please explain all of these rumors to us," Fred demanded. "We want to hear the truth."

"Look, I don't know everything that goes on in your personal lives and just because I'm royal, doesn't mean you should know everything that is going on in mine. If I were in your position, I would grant permission for the marriage regardless of my own personal feelings to the fiancée. It's not your decision to make," I said, avoiding the question.

"You didn't answer the question," the Prime Minister said.

"In regards to the photo, it was photo-shopped," I said sighing heavily. "With all of the technology today, it isn't a surprise that someone who doesn't want this union to take place tried to sabotage Ms. Morgan's good name. In regards to her being in the hospital, she was in for a rather personal reason. I'm going to leave it up to Ms. Morgan whether she wants everyone to know about her recent stay in the hospital," I said.

I looked at my fellow members of Parliament. Some seemed to believe me while others stared at me with looks of disbelief on their faces. They didn't believe me."

"We'll need to discuss this further and vote within the next week," the Prime Minister said. "We would rather debate without you here. Please enjoy the time off until further notice," he said, motioning for me to leave.

"You're joking, right? Aren't you making a huge ordeal about this?" I asked, laughing nervously.

"No," the Alfred replied.

"Fine," I said, gathering my stuff and leaving the room.

I knew that the Prime Minister was on my side and that he was just doing what he had to do, but I was still infuriated. Could they actually deny me the right to marry Paige? And if we were denied, what would I do? Where would we go? I would leave the throne without any reservation in order to marry Paige, but was I really prepared to give up the only life that I ever knew?

I decided to head over to the University of Copenhagen. Paige would be getting out class in a few minutes.

Once I arrived there, I parked, looked at her class schedule, and walked to where she would be leaving. I want to surprise her. Honestly, I was furious with Parliament, and I wanted to leave the country right now. Even though I knew that wasn't possible, I couldn't help but imagine what it would be like to be completely free of my responsibilities.

"Eddie!?" I heard an excited voice exclaim. I turned and I saw my beautiful fiancée walking quickly towards me.

"What a nice surprise," Paige said leaning up to kiss me since she was slightly shorter than me. "Aren't you supposed to be in Parliament right now?" She asked.

"It's a long story, but I got out early. I wanted to come and surprise you," I said, gently stroking her arm.

"Well, this was a very nice surprise," she said very giddy as she took my hand and squeezed it.

We were so in love! Couldn't others see that!?

"Do you need to go study? Or do you have some time?" I asked her. I knew that she had been stressing out about a test.

"The studying can wait," she said smiling. "It isn't everyday that you get out of Parliament so early!" Paige exclaimed, excited.

"How did your doctor's appointment go this morning?" I asked her as we walked hand-in-hand to the car. Ever since she had the ectopic pregnancy, she had to get her blood drawn once a week to monitor her hCG levels (the pregnancy hormone).

"It went well. My hCG levels are still pretty high, so she decided to draw my blood again. She wants to see me again next week, and she gave me some vitamin supplement to take, which should help get things back to normal. She told me not to worry about it."

I heaved a sigh of relief. Even though I knew everything was going to be okay, I still worried when I heard that her hCG levels were still present.

I opened the car door for her and then got around to the driver's side.

"So, Parliament was interesting today," I said after she discussed her classes and her doctor appointment.

"How so?" She asked, looking up inquisitively at me.

"They have to approve our marriage," I explained. "I brought it up after we finished the last item on the agenda so that they could approve it, and we could move on to the next item, but they are giving us a hard time about it. It looks like it may not get approved," I explained. "They want to think about it and debate about it, which was why I was removed from the room."

I looked over at her to see her reaction. It was hard to read it; she wasn't showing much emotion.

"So, what are you going to do?" She asked me.

"I don't know," I said, sighing. "If they deny it, I can appeal it for them to reconsider it again, but that is about it. I just wanted to let you know what was going on."

"You don't know!?" She exclaimed, getting upset. "You aren't going to fight for us? What does this mean for us!?"

Oh shoot. She was asking what this meant about our relationship. I thought she was asking what I was going to do about Parliament.

"Oh no, Paige, I was referring to Parliament. I don't know what is going on with them. If we are denied marriage by them, we'll still be together. That isn't a question. Don't worry. I'm not going to let them tear us apart, even if they do deny our marriage. They can't stop us from leaving the country and getting married."

Paige heaved a sigh of relief, and she let her guard down.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions," she said.

"It's okay. I worded it strangely. It will be weird though to abdicate the throne though and my title. I've only known life in Denmark as a Royal..." I said, trailing off and getting pensive.

"So you don't want to give it up," She asked although it was more like a statement.

"I'm saying that it's going to be hard and that it is going to be an adjustment. But I'm willing to do if it means I can spend the rest of my life with you," I said, taking her hand and squeezing it. "Surely, you have to understand that it's going to be an adjustment," I said.

"I do. I've been trying to adjust to your life," she said. "I've been adjusting to the rules, the formalities, and having my every move documented and analyzed. Would you be mad at me if I said that I am almost relieved that we may be leaving?" she asked me.

I was slightly taken aback by her comments. Was she unhappy here? Did she want to leave?

"You aren't happy here?" I asked.

"Of course, I'm happy here. It's just been a huge adjustment. I just feel like the biggest obstacles in our relationship are the differences in our lifestyles, the press, and our expectations and duties..." She trailed off, looking out the window. "I just think that everything would be so much simpler if you weren't...royal."

I understood where she was coming from and sometimes I even felt the same way.

"I understand what you are saying, and I've thought the same before," I said. I saw out of the corner of my eye that she looked up with surprise. "We'll figure it out- don't worry," I said reassuringly. "If we are denied marriage here, then we will move to the US and start a life here. If we are granted a marriage here, we will keep all of our options and possibilities open. We want what will be best for us," I said.

Paige leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

I continued driving, completely unaware of our future. It was scary when I thought about it but as long as Paige was along side me, everything would be okay. Wouldn't it?


	2. Chapter 2

Paige's point of view:

After spending a wonderful afternoon with Eddie (we watched Netflix and played Air Hockey) and having a wonderful dinner with him, we retired to my room. I had to study and do homework, but I didn't want to leave him for the night. Plus, we needed to discuss our future more in private. We couldn't really discuss this out in the open even in the palace. People from Parliament could easily overhear us or palace staff, and then the royal family would be all over the tabloids again (even though we already were on every single magazine.. mostly me though).

Eddie went to his room to go get his paperwork from the US (his old student visa and his old visitor's visa when he spent the summer with me), and I pulled up my laptop to research the process of brining him back to the US as well as pulled up my bank statements from the US. We would be starting over with literally nothing.

"I found these papers," Eddie said coming into my room and closing the door behind him. He walked over and joined me on top of my bed and put the paperwork down. I picked them up to look at them.

"Your student visa has expired," I said putting the one paper down. "And your visitor's visa expires in a month," I said putting the other paper down.

"What are the next steps?" He asked me, looking over my shoulder at my laptop.

"We need to fill out this from called an I-I130. It may be easier to bring you in if we are already married, but I'm not sure. Beth's father is an immigration officer; I was planning on asking him if that was okay," I said looking over at Eddie.

He nodded and then I continued my explanation.

"The form isn't so bad, we just need to fill out your basic information," I said scrolling and showing him the form. "And there is $300 dollar processing fee."

"Occupation?" Eddie said, stopping me from scrolling. "What do I put there? King of Denmark?" he asked.

"I guess. You can't exactly lie...the US government is going to run every background check on you possible before they let me bring you into the country. And once we get to the US, we'll have immigration checking in on us to make sure that we are actually married," I explained.

"Are you serious?" Eddie asked me. "Their going to check up on us?"

"They want to make sure that we are truly married and that you didn't just marry me to come into the country," I explained, which caused Eddie to laugh.

"Americans," he mumbled under his breath.

"I don't make the rules," I said hitting him playfully.

"And since I really don't think Parliament will ever approve our marriage, what happens once we get to the United States?" he asked me.

"I'm sure my parents will let us stay with them for a week or so until we find our own apartment. But we'll have to both get jobs and save up money right away, even if it's something simple like working at a coffee shop. I have $3,000 saved up in my bank account, but that isn't going to get us very far. We're going to need to get a car too. Plus, I have $25,000 in student loan debt that we are going to need to pay back..."

Eddie's eyes bugged out.

"You're joking, right?" He asked.

"I wish I was..." I said trailing off.

"Who's paying off your loans now?" he asked.

"I'm in educational deferment since I am in medical school. But once I stop going to medical school, they are going to want me to start making payments."

"What are you going to do about Medical School if we go to the US?" Eddie asked me, concerned. "I don't want you to give up on your dream," he said, taking my hand and tracing the lines on my palm with his fingertip.

"I may have to take a semester off and work so we can save up some money. Or I may have to go part-time and work part-time. I'm not sure what to do..." I said trailing off. "We'll figure it out though," I said.

"Wow...I never realized how hard being...umm...normal was," Eddie said.

"Yeah, it can be rough, but with money management and hard work, we'll be able to figure it out," I said, trying to be reassuring.

"So, what are we looking at for monthly expenses?" he asked me.

"At least $650 a month or so for a descent apartment, plus student loan payment of roughly $150-$200 a month, about $250-$300 on food, and plus a car payment of a few hundred dollars, depending on what car we get. Also, that doesn't include any furniture. You have to remember that are going to be starting with nothing. I'm my parents will let take my bed, my dresser, my night table and my desk. My bed is small, but it'll work till we can get something bigger. But we aren't going to have any couches, tables, or anything. We could maybe skip a TV and just watch Netflix on a laptop. I'd be cheaper than cable. I do have a laptop back at my parent's house. We'll also have to do laundry and get internet and that doesn't include utilities like water and electricity. All of this can easily be another $20o or more a month."

"So, what are we looking at?" Eddie asked me.

"Around $1,358 dollars a month...at least," I said showing him the number on my phone after doing the math. "I didn't even calculate in cell phone cost per month..." I said adding more numbers into my cell phone.

Eddie sighed heavily.

"So, we'll be screwed, basically," he said.

"Not screwed...it's going to be rough. There is no doubt about it. But we don't know what the future is going to hold. We may get good jobs where we won't have to worry as much or we may get minimum wage paying jobs where we are going to have to watch every single penny we spend."

"Where do you want to live in the US? I know you wanted to go to John Hopkins for medical school..." Eddie said trailing off.

"I was thinking we'd go back to Wisconsin. We'll need help, especially in the beginning and it may be nice to be close to my parents. I was thinking of going back to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where we studied for our undergrad. They have a good medical program, and it'll allow me...us to be closer to home while we get on our feet. As job opportunities come up, we can always move later. Maybe my parents will let us do laundry at their place until we get our own washer and dryer. We'd get to save money on a laundry mat too," I explained. "And I'm sure they'll invite us over for dinner. Worst case scenario, maybe my dad could hire us to work on the farm until we get a steady job. I'm not sure though; I know things are tight for them. But maybe he could help us get a job at a different farm or help just find a job..."

"Wow...just wow," Eddie said tracing his fingers through his short, dark blond hair.

"We'll figure it out and get through it all," I said trying to be assuring.

I closed my laptop and laid down on my bed, and Eddie looked at me, concerned.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

"I'm just tired, really tired," I replied, trying to smile.

Eddie laid down next to me, pulled me into his chest and gently kissed me on the top of my head.

"It would have been 4 months today," I said quietly.

Eddie held me closer to him.

"You would have been 4 months pregnant today?" he asked.

I nodded and wiped a tear away from my face.

"I always remember at my appointments. It's hard sometimes to go and to remember what could have been..." I said trailing off.

Eddie kissed me on my head again, and I turned to look at him.

"I'm always here to for you. And I know it will always be hard but with time, it will become slightly easier. But I don't want us to forget. I got you a little something; it's in my room. I was waiting for the right time to give it to you, and I think now is the correct time. Come with me," he said taking my hand.

I got up off of my bed and followed him down a flight of stairs to his bedroom. Then, we walked down the hallway. The Royal Family lived on a separate floor than others. I was considered to be a "guest" and not yet a part of the royal family, so I was placed on a separate floor. Eddie wanted to move me down to where he was, but his mother was adamant about my room when I first came back. Now, even though Eddie was not speaking to her and neither was I, it was simply too much work to move me. Plus, I liked my room, and I was comfortable in there now.

Eddie's room was the King's chambers and was all the way at the end of the hallway. Simply put, his room was basically a mini-apartment. There was his giant comfy bed, a living area with a TV, a study area, even a cooking area with his own refrigerator, stove and microwave, his own private bathroom with a giant bathtub and a separate shower. And don't even get me started on his closet- it was gigantic.

He opened his door, and we entered together. I sat down on his couch (yes, he had a couch and a chair in room...we probably won't have an apartment this large when we go back to the US). Eddie came over by me and sat down close next to me and handed me a small box.

I opened it and saw a small delicate necklace. I lifted the necklace from the box and saw an angel charm at the bottom. One the back, there it said October-November and then the current year.

"Our child is a new angel in heaven and was an angel sent to us. And then I put the month of conception and the month that you miscarried," Eddie said putting it on me.

"Thank you so much. I love it," I told him, feeling the tears coming into my eyes.

"This way we'll never forget," he said pulled me into his chest. "It's okay, you can cry," he said, feeling me trying to hold my emotions in.

"I'm sorry," I sobbed. "I just sometimes feel like it's all my fault," I said.

"It's not, Paige. It's not your fault. You had no control over this," he said.

"I know...I guess, as scared as I was, I just felt this bond right away when I found out I was expecting. And then I miscarried..." I trailed off, beginning to sob.

"It's okay to cry and it's okay to feel sad. But we will always love our little angel," Eddie said beginning to choke up as well.

I nodded as I cried into his chest.

"I don't want you to ever feel like you are alone in this. We are in this together. I will always be by your side until the day I die," Eddie told me.

I looked up at him and began to rub his cheek lovingly with my hand.

"And I will always be by your side until I take my last breath, loving you and supporting you," I replied.

Eddie leaned forward and kissed me very passionately and hard. He pulled me closer to him as he began to kiss me more passionately and with more force. His lips were crushing into mine, and I hated the short distance between us so I moved even closer to him.

Eddie pulled away abruptly and was breathless.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, putting my arms around his neck.

"I'm getting a little carried away; I'm sorry," he said pulling me into a hug.

As he pulled me closer to him, I began to plant gently kisses on his jawline and neck.

After the miscarriage, I had avoided having any physical relations with Eddie. First, the doctor told me that my body needed at least 6 weeks to heal after the miscarriage. Second, I was told that it would be really easy to get pregnant again since my body had been preparing for a baby. Third, I wasn't read to be physical again with him, and I was terrified of getting pregnant again. After this loss, I wasn't ready for a baby and if I did get pregnant, I would be terrified of losing it. The last time we had relations was when I conceived...

Eddie was extremely understanding, and he knew I wasn't purposely trying to distance myself from him. It had been 6 weeks past my "all clear" from my doctor. I found out in mid October that I was expecting, lost the baby about two weeks later, and it was now the 2nd week in January. I had just started my second semester of medical school after spending two and a half wonderful weeks with my family for Christmas. Eddie had come with me and during that time, we had no idea that we would probably be living in the US once we were married. Otherwise, we would have tried to figure out how to live once we get married. When I was there, I had gotten some counseling from my church's priest about the miscarriage, and I was beginning to come to terms with it all. My dad was pretty upset over everything that had happened and unintentionally gave Eddie a hard time for a few days but in the end, my dad was supportive of both of us. It was dates (like today) that opened up some of the old wounds again.

Eddie and I began cuddling and watched the _Hunger Games_. It was moments like this that I absolutely loved. It was just us. There was no one here to interrupt us to annoy us. After the movie, I took Eddie's hand and began moving my hand up and down his arm lovingly.

"What do you want to do now?" He asked me. "Do you need to study?"

At that moment, I wanted to move on from all of the pain that I had experienced these past few months. I felt secure and safe with Eddie. My fears were pushed out of my mind. I was ready to move on. I was ready to remember what had happened but not to dwell on it anymore.

"Come with me," I told Eddie and took him by his hand. I gently led him over to his bed and began to kiss him.

"I'm ready," I whispered in Eddie's ear as we broke apart, moving my hands up and down his chest.

His eyes looked at me surprised.

"Are you sure?" He asked me.

"Yes," I replied and then leaned in and kissed him. "I want to remember what happened, but I don't want to dwell on it anymore. I don't want my pain to stop me from living."

"If you get uncomfortable or want to stop at anytime, you just say the word," he told me obviously ready but worried that I wasn't ready.

"I will," I said pulling him on the bed with me where we made passionate love.


	3. Chapter 3

A few days later, Rosalind requested to have a meeting with me and Eddie. Even though Eddie wasn't talking to his mother after she deliberately tried to ruin our relationship, Eddie grudgingly agreed because she wanted to talk to us about Parliament. Parliament still hadn't made a decision about giving us permission to wed, and it had almost been a week. Eddie assumed it was because they were going to tell us no while I wanted to believe that there was maybe a person or two in there fighting for us behind closed doors. Regardless, we would end up together since we would simply leave the country, but Parliament didn't know that.

"Paige," Rosalind told me as we were all seated in a private room downstairs. It was me, Eddie, Soren, King Harold, and a few random people in the room. I recognized the one man as Eddie's bodyguard as well as Rosalind's and Harold's bodyguards, but there were two random people in the room who I had never seen before.

"The issue with Parliament," Rosalind continued, "is that they don't see you as a member of the royal family or as the future Queen of Denmark. They view you as a pawn to play with," Rosalind continued.

"Like you," Eddie mumbled under his breath next to me.

Rosalind ignored his comment and continued. "So, from now on, you are going to be treated like a true member of the royal family. Please meet Christian and Desiree. Christian is Danish and Desiree is a Danish American, who was born in the United States but raised here in Denmark. Desiree is your bodyguard," she said pointing to a women in her mid-thirties with long dark hair and blue eyes, "while Christian going to be your in-taker," she said pointing to a tall older man in early sixties with gray hair. "He will run personal errands for you, help you make decisions when you are Queen, and will make you daily schedule. He will make any appointments for you, answer your e-mails if needed, and do anything that you need him to do. Desiree will follow you around everywhere while Christian will be available when you need him. He currently manages the kitchen and agreed to take on this task as well," Rosalind explained.

They bowed slightly while I tried to smile at them. I was going to have my own personal in-taker and bodyguard!? I didn't like these ideas at all.

"You will also get your own royal cell phone," she said handing me the most current edition of a black i-phone. "All of the contacts that you need are in there, including Desiree and Christian. You can add other people from your old contact list who you want to keep in touch with. Be careful who you give your new Danish number out to," Rosalind warned.

My head was spinning. There was more to be royal that what I was used to doing?

"One more thing," Rosalind said as I groaned slightly. There was more?

"You need new clothes. I know you love your jeans and your...umm...yoga pants," she was wincing slightly at the last part, "but you'll be the Queen of Denmark as soon as you marry Edvard. It's time you start attending more royal events, and you also need to start dressing the part. Desiree has agreed to take you shopping as soon as possible," Rosalind explained.

"So, I can't wear jeans or yoga pants to school anymore?" I asked.

Rosalind sighed heavily.

"I suppose it's fine with school and of course, around the palace here when we have no formal events going on. I'd rather you start wearing skirts and casual dresses to school, but-"

"I don't see why she can't wear jeans or yoga pants to school, mother," Eddie said shortly. "It isn't a fashion show."

"Fine, I suppose she can..." Rosalind said. "We'll address that again later in a few weeks."

I could feel the tension between Eddie and Rosalind in the room, and I'm sure that everyone else could too.

"I don't need a personal in-taker or a body guard," I protested to Rosalind. "I've been fine managing on my own," I said.

Rosalind sighed heavily.

"You're too trusting of people, Paige. You need a bodyguard with you at all times," Rosalind stated firmly.

"But _you_ don't have a bodyguard with you every time you leave palace and neither does Eddie," I protested again. "I don't need one going to school. I'm perfectly safe," I argued.

"Parliament isn't taking you seriously. They don't view you as a royal. They view you as Edvard's current fling that will end soon. You need to act like who you will be soon- the future Queen of Denmark," Rosalind stated firmly.

I sighed. She wasn't going to back down. I looked to Eddie for him to back me up.

"Can't we try to compromise? Paige is having a hard enough adjusting as is..." Eddie said, trailing off.

"No, there is nothing to compromise on. Desiree will be following Paige around for her own safety and whenever Paige needs anything done, she will go to Christian," Rosalind stated very firmly.

I sighed. Now I'd have a body guard following me?

"I'll leave you meet your new team. I'm trying to help, Edvard," Rosalind said staring at Eddie. The tension in the room between them was very loud and clear. I'm sure Soren, Christian, and Desiree noted it. I tried to keep my attitude down to a minimum since I wasn't trusting of Rosalind at all.

"Should we trust her?" I whispered to Eddie.

"As of now, I don't think we have a choice if we want Parliament to approve our marriage," Eddie whispered back.

I sighed heavily and walked over with Eddie to meet Christian and Desiree.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you" I said extending my hand.

They looked confused at me extending my hand to them at first, but Desiree took it and shook it and then Christian followed afterwards. Eddie told me later that is wasn't appropriate for them to shake my hand as being a future member of the royal family.

"If you need anything at all, Ms. Paige, just let me know," Christian said. "Please, don't ever hesitate to ask me either," he said, trying to be friendly.

"Of course," I said smiling at him even though I wasn't planning on ever using him.

"Miss Paige," Desiree said bowing her head slightly. She seemed firm, and I could tell that nothing or no one would ever intimidate her, which is a good thing since she was going to be my bodyguard.

"It's nice to meet you," I replied.

"Please send me your class schedule and your daily itinerary. It's my job to protect you. Also, let me know when you would like to go shopping. Queen Rosalind told me that we need a lot of work. Finally, don't try to avoid me. I will find you and protect you. It's my job," she stated as though it was a matter of fact.

I will find you? I thought to myself. That wasn't weird at all...I was taken aback by her brazenness, but then I remembered that Rosalind hired her.

"Of course," I said, trying to smile.

"Well, thank you. It's been a pleasure. Paige will be in touch very soon," Eddie said taking my hand. He nodded to them, and they nodded back. Then, Eddie squeezed my hand, and we left the room.

"Seriously!?" I whispered to him as he closed the door behind him.

"My mother insists that this will help make Parliament take us more seriously. It won't hurt to give it a try," Eddie said. "She isn't going to literally follow you around everywhere...I think. Maybe you can arrange for her to be on campus instead of your actual classes with you. I can understand you don't want her sitting next to you all the time. On the plus side, I do think you do need some protection. I'd worry about you walking to school at the time alone," Eddie told me.

"But I enjoyed walking to school. It was a choice that I made," I argued.

"I know, and I'm sorry. I just think it's better for you to walk with someone else, like me," he said pulling me closer to him. I couldn't help but giggle.

"Do you want to go outside and do some wedding planning?" Eddie whispered in my ear.

I nodded enthusiastically.

"Let me go get my laptop in my room," I said giving him a quick kiss on the lips.

Eddie and I ran up to my room together to get my laptop. As soon as I closed the door behind us, Eddie immediately began kissing me.

"I haven't had a chance to do this today because you left so early," he mumbled in my ear, referring to my internship this morning. I had to be there at 6:30am today.

I pulled Eddie closer to me as he continued to kiss me. The feeling was electrifying.

"We need to stop if we want to get any wedding planning done," I said pulling away slightly, and Eddie retreated.

"You are unfortunately right," he said leaning in to kiss me one last time.

"Do you want to take a walk? Or do you want to stay in my room?" I asked him.

"It's so beautiful outside. Plus, no one can overhear us then," he said.

"True," I agreed.

We walked outside and sat down on the bench in front of the garden scenery and the lake.

"I love it here," I said as we sat down. "I can just sit out here forever. I remember when you proposed to me here...for the first time," I said laughing.

"For the first time," Eddie repeated, laughing with me.

"It's okay because we found our way back to each other," I said squeezing his hand.

"We always do," he said squeezing it back and smiling at me.

"So, getting down to business," I said opening up my laptop and finding our wedding file. It was password encrypted so no one could ever open the file.

"Yes, we need to plan this wedding before you change your mind," Eddie joked, laughing.

"Haha, very funny," I said hitting him playfully, and I couldn't help but laugh either.

"So, I know we were in disagreement before about what church we were going to get married in and I've it a lot of thought. I'm breaking tradition by marrying a non-royal, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to break tradition one more time. So, how about we get married at Jesu Hjerte Kirke," he said pronouncing the name in Danish. I loved it when he spoke in Danish. "It's a beautiful Catholic Church in Copenhagen, and it's right on the water. I'm sure we could find a place to have the reception too around there," Eddie said. "I would like for our Luthern Bishop to be there though, precising along with the priest," Eddie explained.

"Really?" I exclaimed.

"I know it means a lot to you and your family to be married in a Catholic church, so I want you to have that. So maybe tomorrow, once you get out of class, I can pick you up and we can go over and talk to someone about getting married?" Eddie asked me.

I leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

"I would love that," I responded.

"So, I guess we need to finally decide on a date to see if it's available," Eddie said.

"Maybe July? At least in the US, the church has a waiting period for couples. Usually about 4-6 months," I said. "So, even if it was six months, we would be able to do it in July since it's the middle of January," I said.

"And it's surprisingly warm today at 40 degrees for January," Eddie commented.

"Well, I heard Saturday morning will be 20 degrees," I said. "I'm never going to want to get up," I said. I hated getting up out of the blankets when it was cold out.

"I'll cuddle with you and keep you nice and warm," Eddie said gently stroking my arm.

"Thanks," I said learning into him slightly.

"So, we want a wedding sometime in July. A small wedding with just our closest friends and family members," Eddie stated.

"Correct," I said typing a note on the document. "So, we need to figure out how many bridesmaids and groomsmen we want. We need to have an even amount so the bridesmaids will have an escort," I said.

"I was going to ask George to be my best-man. He's my best friend, and I grew up with him. He's one of the few people who knows me for who I am. I also wanted to ask your brothers to be my groomsmen. I also wanted to ask Soren. Even though he's been my bodyguard and assistant, he's also been such a good friend to me," Eddie said.

"I think those are good options," I said.

"Do you think your brothers would want to be my groomsmen?" Eddie asked. "I know I haven't known them for a while but-"

"I think they would be honored,"I said, cutting him off and smiling, trying to extinguish his nerves.

He smiled in relief. "And who do you want to ask?"

"I was going to ask Beth to be my maid of honor. I've known her since high school, and you know that we were roommates too in college. I was also wanting to ask Amanda and Stacy from college. I wanted to ask Arabella," I said. "And if one my friends couldn't come in, I'd ask my cousin Michelle."

"You have a back-up bridesmaid," Eddie said chuckling.

"I do and if I end up needing to use her, don't you dare tell her that she was my back-up!" I said.

"I won't" Eddie said chuckling. "So, I was thinking we could use your new bodyguard to actually order the cake and the food for us. No one would ever suspect a thing. We'll have to give the media a fake date so we can go cake shopping together, do wedding planning, and so that you can buy a dress. But we should be able to use them as the decoys to actually order what we want for our wedding," Eddie explained.

"Won't people start to notice that they are starting to hang around me all the time? And then they suddenly go and order a wedding cake?" I asked.

Eddie sighed. "We'll see how it goes, and if she is really around you a lot. If she is, then we'll need to find someone else."

"Why does this have to be so complicated?" I asked, running my fingers through my hair. "I'd say let's elope, but I know my parents really want to be at our wedding."

"And I want to give you the fairy-tale wedding of your dreams," Eddie told me.

I leaned forward and kissed him before we continued on with our wedding planning.


	4. Chapter 4

I waited anxiously for Eddie to pick me up from school so we could go to the church to talk to a priest. Desiree had met me at school after Eddie had dropped me off. I reluctantly agreed to give her a copy of my class schedule. She promised she wouldn't follow me into the classrooms, but she usually hung out in the same building and we had a designated meeting spot after class. No one seemed to notice her since she dressed in regular cloths and didn't wear dark sunglasses. She even carried around a backpack around with her laptop inside to complete work while I was at in class. She didn't say much but at least she didn't try to make painful small talk. She gave me my space, and I'd open up to her in due time. I wasn't sure what she thought of me, but she never questioned me.

"Eddie's coming to pick me up," I explained to her as we were walking down the sidewalk after my afternoon classes.

"Would you like me to accompany you two in the car back to the palace?" She asked me.

"That's okay. We'll be just fine. Why don't you go home early and spend the rest of the time with your family?" I suggested, trying to be nice without it coming off as fake. I was exhausted. I stayed up really late the other night studying for a test. I really just wanted to go back into bed and take a nap, but the wedding business needed to get taken care of.

"I'll wait till his Royal Highness comes to get you and then I will head to my car and leave as long as you are sure it is okay," Desiree replied. It felt somewhat scripted, as though it was robotic.

"It's fine. I promise," I reassured her.

"My daughters and husband will like my new boss," she said finally cracking a small smile.

"Go home and enjoy them. Eddie and I will be fine," I said smiling back at her.

"As you wish, your majesty," she replied.

I turned and looked at her in complete shock. Did she just call me "your majesty?" I felt my jaw open slightly from shock.

"Why do you look so surprised?" Desiree asked me. "You will be the Queen of Denmark soon," she said nonchalantly.

"I don't think of it that way. I think of it as Eddie will be my husband, and I will be his wife," I replied, looking down at the ground slightly due to my slight embarrassment.

"I believe your finance is here," Desiree replied, motioning over Eddie's car rounding the corner.

"Yes, that's him," I said smiling.

"As soon as you as safely in his car, my job here is complete," she said.

Eddie pulled into a parking spot, and I turned and said good-bye to Desiree. She nodded back at me, and I got into Eddie's car in the passenger's side. I closed the door and turned to him.

"Hi," I said giving him a big smile.

"Hello beautiful," he said leaning in to give me a strong kiss.

"How did things go today with Desiree?" He asked me.

"Surprisingly well. She kept low key, which I appreciated. She even dressed like a college student, and she didn't follow me into my classes," I said.

"I'm glad that things went well, and you seem very happy today," Eddie commented.

I giggled and squeezed his arm playfully.

"I'm just so happy that this is finally happening. We're taking the first step to getting married," I said smiling lovingly at him.

"I really want to kiss you right now because I feel the same way," Eddie said taking my hand and kissing it gently but keeping his eyes on the road. "I can't wait till the day you become Ms. Paige Williams," he said glowing.

I winced slightly.

"What?" he asked, sensing myself stiffen up.

"Would you be incredibly disappointed if I kept my last name? I was thinking of hyphenating it, but that is what I would to be called then- Dr. Morgan-Williams,"I explained.

"But it's tradition," Eddie began to say and then trailed off.

"Yes, but are we always breaking tradition?" I said trying to keep the tone friendly. "I mean think about it. A Morgan is who I have been my entire life. It's part of my identity. I know that we are molding identities now and becoming one, but I don't know...I just feel like losing my last name is losing a part of myself, which is why I want to hyphenate it. That way, I maintain who I am while showing that I am married to you and that we are one," I explained.

"Don't girls want to change their last names when they are married? Isn't it part of the joy?" Eddie asked me, still slightly uncertain about my proposal to keep my last name. He was trying broach it so we didn't end up fighting, and I was approaching it in the same manner.

"Some girls do, but I just don't view it that way. It goes back to women being men's property, and I obviously don't agree with that," I explained.

"I don't agree with that either," Eddie said. "I do see where you are coming from..." Eddie said, trailing off. "I wouldn't want to change my last name if positions were reversed. It's who I am," he said.

"Exactly," I explained.

"I will support whatever decision you decide to make about your last name," he told me.

"Thank you. I'm glad to have your support," I said. "I'm leaning towards hyphenating it so that it shows that I'm a Morgan, but we are also one team as a Williams family. And when we have children one day, it will show that too," I said.

"I don't want to pressure you into anything," Eddie said. "I'll support whatever you decide. You don't have to decide anything today," he said taking my hand and squeezing it. "Think about what you want," he told me.

I nodded in agreement.

As we neared the church, I gasped. It was such a beautiful church, and it bordered a beautiful lake. It was truly breathtaking. The architecture of the church was beautiful and old. The bricks were a stained red/rusty color and the steeples were high and a bluish gray color.

"Is that the church?" I asked Eddie.

"Yes. We have to park on the street, but I took the scenic tour to show you how it was on the water. If you like the outside, wait till you see the inside," Eddie told me.

"I'm sold already," I said laughing.

"So, I have an appointment with the priest. I'll go in first and then I'll come out and get you once we get settled. I don't want other workers to see us coming in together since the tabloids will be buzzing. I made the appointment under the name Valdemar."

"You're middle name?" I asked. "Won't people put two and two together?" I asked.

"I don't think so. I know you think it's a funny middle name, but it's more common than you think," he told me smiling.

"I love you middle name. It sounds like Voldermort though," I said laughing, referring to the Harry Potter villain.

"Very funny," Eddie said parking and shooting me a teasing look. "It's a family name," he said.

"Too bad it isn't your mother's name. It would fit her well," I said laughing.

"I do have to agree with you there," Eddie grumbled. His mother was still a sensitive subject, and I understood why. I wouldn't speak to her either unless we absolutely had to.

"I'll be right back for you as soon as I get the priest. But here's a baseball cap for you to wear when you get out of the car. Just make sure you take it off before you get into the church," he said handing it to me.

"I'll text you when it's okay to come in," he said giving me a kiss on the lips and getting out of the car.

"Okay," I said pulling out my phone so I would see the text message when it came in.

As I waited for Eddie, I couldn't really believe that I was about to marry Eddie in a few months. The concept was truly mind-blowing to me. I was more than ready to start our lives as husband and wife. Even though marriage scared me before, I realized that I wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with Eddie.

My phone buzzed, and Eddie told me to meet him in the lobby of the church. I put on the baseball cap as I got out of the car and quickly walked up the steps to the church. Then, I took off the cap as soon as I entered the church. Eddie was right, the lobby was beautiful, and I hadn't even seen the inside of the church yet.

"The priest is waiting for us in the church. Then, we'll go into a meeting room," he explained.

"Sounds good," I said squeezing his hand.

We walked into the church, and I saw a priest in his late 50's sitting down in a pew with big glasses and was slightly chubby. He had dark brown hair with grey streaks throughout, which showed his age. I had to stop halfway down the aisle in the church just to take in the scenery.

"It's beautiful," I told Eddie.

"I knew this would be the church you'd want to get married in," he told me.

We walked over to the priest, and Eddie began speaking to the priest in Danish. The priest looked at me and shook my hand. I smiled and shook it as well although I had no clue what was going on. I understood a little from my Danish class, and he asked me how I was. I replied that I was doing well and asked him how he was doing. He replied that he was doing well and then made a joke that I didn't understand.

"The thing about my fiancee, Father Aaron, is that she doesn't really speak Danish. She's still learning," Eddie said in English. I looked at Eddie not knowing what to say. Did the priest know that he was King Edvard? What did he say my name was?

"I know," Father Aaron said nodding and smiling. "I knew who you were the moment you walked through the door, your Royal Highness," he said nodding to Eddie. "Although what she does know, is very good," he said. "She has good pronunciation, which is essential."

"Thank you," I said in English even though I could have said that in Danish.

"I gave a fake name because I didn't anyone tipping the press," Eddie mumbled, slightly embarrassed. "We weren't trying to trick you, Father. I hope you know that," Eddie said.

"I completely understand," he said smiling at us. "So, this is where you will be married. What do you think Ms. Morgan?" he asked me.

"It's breathtaking," I said, looking at the art on the ceiling and around me.

"So, I assume we are going to have a huge wedding? Will we be able to accommodate everyone?" He asked.

Eddie and I looked at each other, not wanting to give an exact answer.

"We actually want to talk to you about the wedding. Is there someplace private that we could go to?"Eddie asked him.

"Of course. Following me to the meeting room," he said getting up. We following him to a side room in the church that was empty. He closed the door behind us. Eddie and I took a seat next to each other. I was getting slightly nervous. This was our moment of truth. Would the priest tell all of our secrets to the press? I knew that he was a priest, but I still worried.

"So, I know you are both worried about the press, which I saw when you came in separately. Whatever you have planned for your wedding and whatever we discuss during our marriage preparation classes will be all confidential, just like when you tell your sins in confession. I won't tell a soul. Of course, if someone tells me a plan to kill the other, I have to notify the authorities," he said trying to make a joke.

Eddie and I both laughed.

"Thank you, Father, we appreciate that," Eddie said.

"So, are you both just wanting information about getting married here? Or do you want to get married here?" He asked us.

"I think Paige is pretty sold here already," Eddie said looking at me, and I nodded, smiling at him.

"Don't royals usually get married in the Lutheran church?" he asked us.

"It was important to Paige and her family to get married in a Catholic Church. We'd like to have the Lutheran Bishop presiding as well if possible. It was our compromise," Eddie explained.

"Well, we are happy to marry you here, and that isn't as issue with me as long as you can get the Lutheran Bishop to agree as well."

Eddie nodded. "I'll get in touch with him."

"I'm sure he's been expecting that phone call," Father Aaron said.

"So, the Catholic preparation for marriage is 6 months. After you successfully complete that preparation class, you can get married. Have you thought about any dates yet?" Father Aaron asked us.

"We were thinking July if that would be a possibility," I said.

"We could do Saturday, July 9th if you wanted," Fr. Aaron said, "or Saturday, July 31st," he said. "That is what we have available," he told us.

"What do you think?" I asked, turning to Eddie. "I say the 9th."

"Yes,I think the 9th would be the best. Here's the thing Father and the slightly issue. We don't want a huge wedding with a ton of people that we do not know. We want a small private wedding with just our closest friends and family. We were planning to give the press a fake date so that we could do our wedding planning together. We could pick out a cake, Paige can get her dress, and we can do the other necessities," Eddie said.

"I see," he said looking at his calendar. "Well, the people who actually have their weddings on the fake day will realize that it is a fake date. And I don't think you'll be able to hide that you are getting married here. But we have a retreat going on July 24th at 3pm so we could tell the press that we are going to have the wedding at 10am? It will be over," he said putting "over" in quotation marks, and we laughed "about noon, which will give time for the retreat leaders to come in and set up."

"That sounds like a good plan to me," Eddie said, and I nodded in agreement.

"So July 9th will be the actual wedding, and July 24th will be the date that you can tell the press. What time do you want the wedding on July 9th?" he asked us.

"What time do you think would be best so the press doesn't see us?" I asked Eddie.

"I think anytime could work. We just wouldn't leave the palace until it was time for the wedding," Eddie told me.

"Would 2pm work for you? I have a baptism earlier that day," he told us.

"That should be fine," I said, and Eddie nodded in agreement.

"Okay! So just verifying- July 9th at 2pm real wedding and July 24th at 10am is the fake wedding," he said writing notes down in the calendar.

"Correct," Eddie and I said in unison, chuckling slightly.

"Okay! It's all set," the priest said smiling. "So, you both will need to become members of the church," he said handing us the form. "You can just turn that into me before you leave today, and I'll put it in the system. I'd like you to become active members in the church or at least attend Mass on the weekends. We just don't want you to come and get married and leave, we want you to practice the faith and become active members in the church," he explained to us.

I nodded to show that I understood.

"Let's start with some preliminary questions for the marriage preparation. Why do you want to get married?" he asked us. "Everything you say will be confidential. I ask all couples these questions who want to get married."

"I love him, and I can't imagine my life without him," I said trying to smile at Eddie and make eye contact with the priest at the same time.

"What do you love about King Edvard, Ms. Morgan?" he asked me.

"Please, call me Edvard or Eddie. You don't need to be so formal," Eddie interjected.

"And please call me Paige," I said too.

"Okay then. And please call me Father Aaron," he said as we all laughed.

"Going back to the question, Paige. What do you love about Edvard?" Father Aaron asked me.

"I love his smile and how when it's just us together and talking, I have his undivided attention, and it feels like we are the only two people in the world. I love how caring he is and how supportive he is of me. He truly just wants the best for me and for us, and I know that those qualities will transfer when he becomes a father one day. I love how he would do anything for anyone in need. And I love how I just feel complete when I am with him, and I can't imagine being with anyone else," I said smiling at Eddie.

Eddie seemed to blush slightly. He took my hand underneath the table and squeezed it.

"And Edvard, what do you love about Paige?" Father Aaron asked.

"Not to copy Paige, but I do love her smile. It was one of her qualities that first attracted me to her. I love how she knows literally every single song on the radio in English and can sing along to it. I love how time just stops when it is just us together. I love how determined she is to become a doctor, and I love how passionate she is about medicine and helping others. She is truly my other half, and she always supports me and wants to do what is best for us as a couple. Not her, not me, but us, even if that means making sacrifices on her part. I love how caring she is for others, and her kind but strong personality. I am the happiest and luckiest man in the world when I am around her, and I want us to be together forever, which is why I want to marry her. She made me realize what was important in life, and she changed me and made be a better person. I have no doubt that she is my other half, and she truly completes me,"Eddie said smiling at me.

I had to wipe a quick tear from my eye.

"I'm sorry," I said laughing.

"It's okay to get emotional. You both had very lovely things to say to each other. And I could tell that they were from the heart, which is what I look for. That is the first question I always ask coupled who want to get married to see if they truly want to get married because they love each other or if they want to get married because they think it's time to get married. You passed the first test," he said smiling at us. "These are the weekly meetings that I do with all couples who are preparing for marriage. There is a retreat that I would like you both to go on. You can use fake names there if you want to try to remain anonymous. But couples really grow together during the retreat, or they maybe realize that this isn't for them and they want to wait a few more months before getting married. The retreat is April 10th-11th," he told us.

"Let me put that in," Eddie said taking out his phone and typing in his calendar.

"It's from a Friday night to a Saturday evening. It starts at 5pm Friday and it ends at 6pm Saturday. The men stay in separate cabins, and the females stay in the other cabins. You'll be given different scenarios that you'll need to work through together such as finances, situations with family members, situations with your children, and some other common scenarios," he told us. "Have you both planned or discussed the future at all?" he asked us.

"What do you mean by that?" Eddie asked.

"Like, have you discussed children at all? Or Paige juggling being a Queen and being a doctor? If you were a regular couple, I'd also discuss the division of household chores, where you are going to live, both of your careers, etc. But I assume you won't have to worry about that," he said.

I wondered how to respond to that question. Should I tell him the truth about our current fight with Parliament?

"Actually, between you and us, Father, there is a very high possibility that we won't be staying in Denmark," Eddie said calmly as I watched the priest's eyes widen and grow about three times in shock over what he just heard. "You see, we need permission from Parliament to get married and as of now, they haven't given us permission. In fact, they have been in session for about four days debating it. I assume we aren't getting permission, which is okay with me. We'll go back to the United States and start a life there. And even if we got their permission, I'm not even sure if we would want to stay. We both feel that the press, and my expectations as King and her expectations as a future Queen put the biggest strain on our relationship," Eddie said.

"Why do you feel that the press and your royal expectations are the biggest hurdles in your relationship?" he asked us.

"When we were engaged the first time, I got scared of what was expected from me and decided to leave," I decided to say.

"And recently, we had a few major blows to our relationship from the media. A very trusted person betrayed our trust and tried to frame Paige for something that she didn't do. She never had an affair- that was all photo shopped, and it was done and designed by a very trusted person. We ended up breaking up, and I almost lost the love of my life," Eddie said. I could tell that he was starting to choke up. "And then all of the drama when she was in the hospital and all those lies. We just think it would be best to get away from it all," Eddie explained.

"Wow. Wow," he said looking at both of us with shock on his face. "I wasn't expecting that."

"Yes, it's been quite a roller coaster, but I think everything is finally starting to settle down. We went down the hill and through the loops, and it seems to be over and we are finally pulling into the station," I said trying to make a metaphor out of our situation.

"I lot of couples come in with their problems, but I haven't heard anything like this yet," the priest said, completely shocked.

"Yes, I assume our relationship is unusual," Eddie said trying to make a joke but ended up sighing slightly. I knew he was still very frustrated over everything that had happened with is mother.

"Well, as I said before, everything here is strictly confidential. So you don't ever have to worry about discussing anything with me."

We nodded to show that we understood. Even though everything was confidential, would we really be able to pull this off?


	5. Chapter 5

"So, we'll put your father and Arabella next to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge," I said writing it in my seating chart.

"Yes, William and I grew up together. We spent a lot of summers together," Eddie said. "Arabella will love being next to George and Charlotte," Eddie said.

"And your mother?" I asked.

"She's not invited," Eddie said firmly. "She would probably leak the date to the press and everything. I just want our day to be perfect," he said.

"Won't William and Kate coming be a tip off to the press?" I asked.

"They might," Eddie said sighing and crossing off their names. "I haven't seen him in a while. They might cause more trouble for us," he said.

"I mean, I don't want to tell you that you can't invite someone," I said.

"We haven't been in touch. I guess the truth is I don't have people I am very close to since I lived such a sheltered life," Eddie said.

We continued to work on the seating chart for the rest of the evening. Then, the hard part came- how to order a cake and the food for our actual wedding date without everything being leaked to the press.

"Could we ask for the cake and food to be delivered early?" Eddie asked.

"The press would catch onto that in a heart-beat," I said. "No one does that because the food would go bad. Do you trust the kitchen staff to prepare the food?" I asked.

"I would fear too much that someone would leak it to the press. I don't know how honest everyone is there..." Eddie said trailing off.

We sat in silence for a moment, and then I thought of an idea.

"What if we get someone we trust to pretend that they are ordering the food and cake for their wedding? We can already have it picked out and then pay them back..." I suggested.

Eddie's ears perked up.

"Like who?"

"Would you trust George and his girlfriend?" I suggested.

"I would fear that the press would suspect something since he is a member of Parliament," Eddie replied. "Especially since his wedding would be right at the same time ours is..."

"What about Sara and Jake?" I suggested.

"Would you trust them?" Eddie asked me.

"They kept everything about us a secret during the time that I was staying with them, so I do trust them," I said.

"Do you really think they wouldn't leak something to the press?" Eddie asked.

"Well, they didn't leak my pregnancy or miscarriage to the press. So, I do trust them. Also, Sara knew about the engagement before we announced it when she saw my ring, and she still didn't say anything. I'd be shocked if she would leak something to the press now," I said.

Eddie thought about it for a minute.

"Would she be willing to do something like that?" Eddie asked.

"I'll see her later tonight. It's the season finale of the Bachelor," I said smiling at him, and Eddie rolled his eyes.

"I only put up with that show to spend time with you," he said smiling at me.

"Well, maybe you can come with me tonight, and we can talk to her together. I'm not sure if Jake is going to be there. But if Sarah wants to help, then she'll drag Jake into the picture.

"I guess that could work," Eddie said. "I'm trusting your judgement on this," he told me.

"I would be shocked and betrayed if they let us down," I said.

"Have you started dress shopping yet?" he asked me.

"Maybe," I said winking.

"Oh really?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I peaked at a few dresses the other day with Desiree, but I didn't try anything on yet. My mom is going to come to Denmark in a few weeks, and we are going to go dress shopping together. She needs to ask her boss for some time off. It's hard being so far away from my mother during this time with all the wedding preparation," I said.

"You'll most likely very close to her after we get married. Probably in the same house after a while," Eddie mumbled.

"And then you'll be far away from you family," I replied.

"I can't get far enough away from my mother," he mumbled again.

"Are you nervous about leaving Denmark if Congress doesn't approve our marriage?" I asked.

"Yes and no. I'm excited about us starting our lives together. But at the same time, I'm nervous about leaving the only life that I know behind..." Eddie said.

"It'll be okay; we'll get through it," I said taking his hand trying to be comforting. "It'll be hard at first, but we'll adjust...you'll adjust."

"Yes, you're used to living like a poor college student," Eddie said smiling as I laughed.

"When will we find out Parliament's decision?" I asked.

"Today, actually. I have a meeting with them in an hour. I didn't want to tell you because I know you have class in a little bit, and I didn't want to distract you..."

"I think you'll be more distracted about it than I will be," I replied.

"You're not worried about the outlook?" he asked me.

"Honestly no. What matters to me is being with you. So as long as that happens, I'll be happy. Parliament can't stop us from being together anywhere in the world," I replied. "Are you really nervous about the decision?" I asked.

"I honestly am... You have to understand that going to the US will be a huge adjustment for me. But it's something that I am willing to do to be with you," he told me.

I leaned in to give him a kiss on the lips.

"Whatever happens, we will be okay," I said reassuringly.

He leaned in and kissed me passionately.

"I love you, Paige Morgan, and I don't want you to think that me worrying is going to change anything," he told me, looking into my eyes.

He leaned forward and kissed me again gently on the lips.

"I have to go to class," I said with our noses touching.

"Why don't you e-mail your professor and say you're sick and stay here," he said kissing my gently again.

"That is so tempting," I said putting my arms around him.

"I feel like I never get to spend as much time with you as I used to. Stay," he said in between kisses.

"I have Danish oral test today after the lecture and an organic chemistry test," I said smiling and wanting to stay.

"That's okay. We are going to be in the US. You don't need to know Danish anymore. You can speak Danish very well," he said planting gentle kisses along my jawline.

"I really have to go," I said snuggling into his chest and not wanting to go either.

"Let me at least drive you other there," he said kissing me on the cheek before getting up from the couch.

Eddie and I walked hand in hand to the car outside. Eddie loved cars, and I learned that he always had from his childhood. I knew that he liked to race cars before I came to Denmark. I had asked him to stop and he did, but that still didn't stop him from trying to fix up cars to make them faster or noisier.

"Do you hear that noise?" he asked me when he started up the car.

"Yes," I said thinking it was awful. It was way too noisy.

"I put it in yesterday while you were studying at the library. I love it," he said proud of his accomplishment.

"I'll be able to hear you a mile away now," I said teasingly.

"Do you like it?" he asked.

"It's...um...different that what I'm used to," I replied. "But if you like it, that's the important thing." I replied.

"So I take it you won't want this done to our cars in the US?" He asked jokingly.

"No," I said smiling. "BUT Johnny and Mikey would probably want it done to their cars. I think it's more of a guy thing," I said.

"Maybe we'll have a bunch of little boys running around in our little ranch house in Wisconsin," Eddie said smiling at me.

"What makes you think we'll have all boys? We could have all girls," I said smiling.

"How many kids do you want?" he asked me.

"I'm not sure," I responded. "Probably just one or two. Maybe three. How many do you want?" I asked looking over at him.

"I was thinking like four or five," he replied.

"Four or five!?" I exclaimed.

"Too many?" he asked.

"You better hope that men can start giving birth because that's the only way we are having four or five kids," I replied.

"I've always wanted to have a big family," he said.

"Well, we can always re-evaluate after having one or two kids," I said. "You've never watched or worked with children before. They are A LOT of work," I said.

"Well, we don't have to make any decisions tonight," he said.

"Exactly," I said. "Besides,..." I began and then stopped.

"What?" Eddie asked, looking over at me.

"When I went for my final check-up after...everything that happened," I began referring to the miscarriage. "The doctor told me that it'll be hard for me to carry a pregnancy to term with my medical history," I began.

"So you may not be able to have children?" he asked me.

"I don't know," I said. "I think it's possible, but it may be harder than the average person. I'm going to talk to my regular doctor back in the US next time we are there to get her opinion. It's always good to get a second opinion," I explained. "I'm sorry," I said trying not to cry. It was hard to tell him that I may not be able to have children, especially after him telling me that he wanted a large family.

"It's okay," he said squeezing my hand. "If we want children, we can always adopt. Then, you don't have an excuse. We can have ten children!" He exclaimed laughing.

I couldn't help but laugh along with him. At that moment, I knew that no matter what happened in life, we would always have each other and support each other.

In class, people around me were glancing at me and whispering. Initially, I looked at my outfit. Was it something I wore? Did I have food on my face?

"What will she do now?" I heard someone say.

What will I do know about what? I wondered. What lies was the press printing now?

As I was working on my to-do list for the day, my phone buzzed. I took it out of my pocket, and saw a text from Sarah.

 **OMG! How come you didn't tell me about the drama with Parliament!? They DENIED King Edvard permission to marry you.**

"What!?" I said out loud to myself, looking at my phone.

I looked up and made eye contact with the girls who were talking about me previously. They stopped talking, and I didn't know what to say or what to do. I got up really fast and ran up the steps of the lecture hall with my phone in my hand. I knew that Parliament could possibly deny us permission to get married, but I didn't honestly believe that they would go through with it. Eddie was pretty confident that they wouldn't though...I knew that Eddie said that he would give up the throne for me, but I honestly wondered if he would go through with it. Was he really prepared to give up EVERYTHING to live practically in poverty with me in the US? We would literally have nothing, and my savings would barely last two months.

I clicked on Eddie's name on my phone. My heart was racing. I was in shock, and I was also upset. Did Eddie honestly mean what he said? If he didn't, it would be the end of us.

"Come on, pick up," I said to myself after the 5th ring. I got his voicemail, and I hung up in frustration. He was probably still in Parliament trying to negotiate or maybe they even moved onto the next item on the agenda...If Eddie was going to abdicate the throne, shouldn't we just leave together soon?

I looked at my phone and realized that it was time to get into class. I could feel eyes on me and whispering as I entered the classroom again. In Denmark, Eddie and I were like celebrities. This was huge news to the Danes; kind of like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie divorcing in the United States. I walked to my seat with my head held high and pretended like nothing happened. I pulled out my phone and answered Sara.

 **They told Eddie that they were going to think about approving out marriage. Apparently, they have reservations about me. Today, we got our answer.**

I hit send and about two second later, Sarah responded to my message.

 **So what are you doing to do? Is this the end of Padvard?**

Padvard? I looked at that confused.

 **Padvard?** I responded.

 **Paige and King Edvard! It's the celeb name that I gave you guys!**

 **Haha very funny.** I replied.

 **Seriously!? What are you guys going to do!?** She responded.

 **We aren't going to split. We'll figure something out.** I replied. **Class is about to start. I'll explain everything tonight when we watch The Bachelor.**

 **I hate our government is even more than I did before...grrrrr...** she responded.

"Good morning class," my Danish teacher said in Danish, coming into the class.

"Did you hear about the current state of the Danish monarchy?" An exchange student asked from Germany. I believe he was a history major from the conversations he would have in class and when we did small group work.

"Yes, I have but this is Danish language class," the teacher replied in English.

"Wouldn't this be the best class to discuss thoughts and reactions to the breaking news story?" he pressed. "None of us are Danish here. It would be interesting to see the viewpoint of an actual Dane," he said.

I had to refrain from rolling my eyes.

"Parliament denied King Edvard's marriage to Paige Morgan. I don't see the big deal," an American girl pipped in. "Can't they still get married?" she asked.

"No, they can't," the German history major replied. "That's why this is such a big deal. King Edvard has to choose a different woman to be his wife. It will most likely be a woman of royal descent."

"That's dumb," the American girl replied. "If they love each other, why can't they be together?"

"What do you think, Professor?" another student asked.

"Well, this has come to a shock to many Danish people, including me," she replied.

"I guess King Edvard is available now ladies," a girl joked. I had to refrain from turning around to glare at her.

"I feel sorry for Paige Morgan. I wonder what she's thinking now. She must be devastated," a girl from the far back on the side said.

"I'm right here. You can just ask me yourself," I said raising my hand slightly.

There were a few gasps from the class and some whispering.

"I heard you went to this school, but I can't believe I had a class with you almost this entire semester," the girl who made the comment replied. Her accent made her sound French.

The lecture was 80 exchange students. I sat in the middle and roll wasn't taken but an attendance sheet was passed around. I guessed I was able to hide in this class better than I had originally thought. I assumed now only the students around me knew who I was.

"What are you thoughts on this Miss Paige?" the German history major asked me.

"I don't think it's fair that Parliament can make this kind of decision," I replied.

"But it's the tradition of Danish Parliament to approve a member of the royal family's marriage." He told me. "I mean, it's been a tradition for centuries."

"I still do believe it's unfair even if it's been the Danish tradition. You can't dictate any person who to marry, even if they come from royal descent," I said.

"Can we ask what you are going to do?" the French girl asked. "Are you upset?"

"I'm upset, but we knew that this was probably going to happen," I replied. "I guess you could say that I was prepared-"

"You knew this was going to happen?" The German student asked me, cutting me off.

"Yes...Parliament took some time to discuss granting us permission to marry. We knew this was a possibility," I replied.

"So what are you doing to do?" Another girl asked again.

"I don't know," I said not wanting to share my entire plan with the class and honestly not knowing if Eddie would truly abdicate the throne for me.

The entire class grew silent.

"I truly hope that you and King Edvard can spend the rest of your lives together," the American girl told me.

I turned around and smiled at her.

"Thank you," I replied.

"We all do," another girl from the back said.

"Thanks. We hope so too," I said.

"And do the the Danish people," my teacher said.

Her words surprised me. She was always strict and hard on us but with those words, I knew that we had made a connection. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all.

"Thank you. I appreciate that," I said.

"Before we waste any more class time, please turn in your books to page 109 and repeat after me..." my teacher told us.

I opened up my textbook and repeated the words as instructed with the rest of the class. I couldn't concentrate. I wanted to talk to Eddie, and I wanted to know what was going on in his head. Also, I wanted to know what happened in Parliament today. Were we going to have our happily ever after?


	6. Chapter 6

As I was leaving class and entered outside, I was bombarded by about 50 reporters, cameras flashing, and reporters yelling questions at me.

"Paige Morgan, did hear about Parliament's decision?" someone yelled at me.

"Are you still planning on marrying King Edvard?" someone else yelled at me.

Desiree came to my rescue and helped pull me through the crowd.

"Paige Morgan!" I heard the reporters yell after me. I kept my head low as Desiree guided me through the slew of reporters.

We began to walk away, but the reporters continued to follow us.

"Why are they following us? They are allowed to do that!" I whispered.

"When you are associated with the royal family, rules don't apply to you," she responded calmly.

We continued to walk across campus, and I could hear the reporters yelling at me and see the lights from the camera. As we continued our search for peace and a place away from the reporters, I wondered how Eddie would be able to come and get me. The reporters were everywhere. I remembered having a similar situation when I first came to Denmark, and I was at the university bookstore. Sarah had grabbed me, and we ran and hid in a classroom until they left. Although, I figured that they would find me in there. They were so determined. I needed a place to go...a place where they couldn't find me. I would have to text Sarah or Clara and see if I could hide in their apartment.

"I have an idea," I whispered to Desiree. "I'm going to make a run for it. I'll be in that building over there in an empty classroom. I'll text you where I am," I explained.

"Don't do that. I am not allowed to leave you, especially at a time like this," she told me.

"Do you have any other ideas?" I asked her.

"No," she said sighing.

"Okay," I said making a run for it for the building. I crossed the side street and continued to run. I could hear the reporters following me and some where also running after me. This was insane. Why couldn't I have a normal life? I opened the door and stopped running and changed it to a brisk walk. I walked down the hallway and saw an empty classroom. I pulled on the knob. It was locked. I continued to walk down the hallway and pulled on empty classrooms, but I had no luck. I went upstairs and went down another hallway. I saw a classroom door that was open and empty.

"Thank goodness," I said to myself. I locked the door from the inside, sat in a desk in a corner where no one could see me if they looked through the window. I heaved a sigh of relief and texted Desiree my location. I pulled out a textbook and began doing some homework when I heard people talking down the hallway.

"There were speaking in Danish, but I heard my name said. I knew they were reporters. I saw them walk by the classroom I was in, stop, and look through. I could see the cameras around their necks. The heard the knob try to turn but thankfully it was locked. I heard them walk away.

I heaved a sigh of relief. After a few minutes, I texted Desiree to tell her where I was and that when I felt like the coast was clear, I'd go over to Sara and Clara's apartment.

 **I'm not comfortable with you walking around by yourself** , Desiree responded to me.

 **I'll be fine. They maybe won't suspect me to go over there. Are they still on campus?** I replied back.

 **Yes. Some went inside the building while others are waiting for you outside.**

 **I'll exit the back entrance way**. I responded.

I got up from my seat, slowly walked to the door, and peaked through the window. The coast was all clear. I slowly opened the door, poked my head outside the door and looked both ways down the hallway. As I was approaching the back staircase, I heard someone yell something in Danish. I turned around quickly and saw two reporters beginning to run after me. The lights of their cameras were blinding me. I opened the door to the staircase and quickly ran down the stairs.

"Paige Morgan! What are you going to do? Are you still going to marry King Edvard?" I heard them yelling at me with the their flashing lights trying to get a glimpse of my face. I left the staircase and walked out the backdoor, hearing the reporters follow me.

As soon as I was outside, I ran as fast as I did when I was on the track team in high school. I didn't even think that I could that fast with my backpack and my boots, but the adrenaline kicked in, causing me to run like lightening.

I turned around once and saw the photographers trying to keep up with me, but they were failing. I turned a corner and ran out of their sight. I leaned up against the wall and tried to catch my breath. Why wouldn't I even leave class without reporters following me? They weren't allowed to follow me onto campus.

"Hey," I heard a male voice say.

The voice scared me, causing my adrenaline to kick in again. I jumped back and lifted up my head. It was another reporter. In fact, the reporter that I swore at when I was leaving the hospital a few months ago.

"So we meet again," he said with his lips curling to a twisted smile.

"I have to go," I said quickly. But but when I turned to the other direction, there were about four other reporters coming my way. I was trapped.

 **"SOS,"** I texted to Desiree, hoping that she could track my location from my phone.

I backed up as far as I could, but I was trapped in between two buildings, and the brick of the one building was pushing against my body. I had no where to go.

I sighed heavily and looked at the reporters with their camera lights flashing in my face.

"What do you want?" I asked, defeated.

"I want to know if you are still going to marry King Edvard," a reporter asked.

"What are you going to do now that Parliament has denied King Edvard permission to marry you?" another reporter asked me.

"Please let me go," I pleaded.

"Not until you answer a question," the reporter from the hospital responded, confident that he would get a reply out of me.

"Fine," I sighed, defeated. "Put your cameras down and then I'll answer ONE question. And then you'll let me go," I said crossing my arms.

"I have the perfect question," the reporter from the hospital said smirking at me. "Why were you hospitalized a few months ago?" he asked me.

"None of your business," I said crossing my arms.

"Oh really?" He said raising an eyebrow. "I already know why and if it came out, it would be the biggest royal scandal. I have no problem airing your dirty laundry."

"That's private medical information. You can't air it without being given the right to do so," I said crossing my arms. "You get into serious legal trouble."

If he was going to play hard ball, I could play it as well.

"Watch me," he said with an evil smirk on his face.


	7. Chapter 7

"You took the paparazzi on a wild goose chase," Rosalind scolded, throwing a magazine and a newspaper down in my face, which both featured me running away from the paparazzi and when I was cornered in between the two buildings. Desiree had come and removed me from the situation and took me back to the palace.

"I'm sorry," I stammered, confused as to why this was a big deal. "I saw the paparazzi, panicked and ran away from them.

"You don't understand it, Paige. Your actions are a reflection of Edvard. If you take the paparazzi on a wild goose chase across campus, it's a poor reflection on yourself, on Edvard and the entire royal family. This isn't your first indiscretion with the paparazzi. You swore at that one man after leaving the hospital, correct?" she said, lowering her eyes and squinting at me.

"I didn't mean to make Edvard or you all look bad. I just wanted to get away from them!" I exclaimed.

"You're giving her way too hard a time," Harold said, putting the newspaper in the trash.

"She has to learn how to stop acting like a..." she started to say and then stopped herself.

"Like a what?" I challenged.

Rosalind avoided my eyes. For once in her life, she seemed ashamed of her words.

"Like a normal person. Like a commoner," I said, raising my voice and finishing her sentence.

"I didn't mean that, Paige," she said, gently.

"Yes, you did. It's no secret that you don't like me. I'm very well aware of it," I said trying to remain calm.

Rosalind seemed taken a back by my words.

"Edvard was meant to marry someone of royal descent. It was how it has always been done-"

"But you weren't royal!" I exclaimed. "You married into the royal family. How come that was allowed?" I said raising my voice at her.

"Because I was the Prime Minister's daughter. It was a suitable match!" She said.

"But you weren't royal. I thought it was tradition and how it's always been done," I pointed out calmly. For once, Rosalind didn't have a response.

"Paige, I think Rosalind is trying to express that Edvard was arranged to marry Princess Kirsten since the time he was a child. It was the way things were done. A child in line for the throne was supposed to have an arranged marriage from the time they were born. I would have never forced things between Kirsten and Edvard. We love you Paige, and we are glad that Edvard has found such a lovely woman to marry and call his wife. I wouldn't have it any other way," Harold told me, trying to smooth the tension in the room.

"She's lucky to be marrying him," Rosalind mumbled under her breath.

"And Edvard is lucky to be marrying Paige," Harold said.

"Paige," Rosalind began, "I know that I hurt both you and Edvard very deeply. However, I see how wrong I was and I wish I could take it all back. I never meant for Kirsten to go so far. I just wanted to uphold tradition..." she said trailing off. "It was wrong of me and for that, I am very sorry," she said sincerely.

I was taken back by her remorse, and I didn't know what to say to her in reply.

"It'll be hard to trust you, but it maybe with time..." I said quietly, trailing off.

"I know," she simply replied.

Christian knocked at the door, interrupting our thoughts and our conversation.

"Excuse me, your majesties, The Late Night Show with Noel has requested that Miss Paige Morgan join them this Saturday night," Christian told us. "I wasn't sure what she wanted to do. Their scheduled guest had to cancel."

I looked at Harold for some type of guidance.

"It's your decision, Paige," he told me.

My stomach churned. I hated going on talk shows with a passion.

"Would Eddie be with me?" I asked Christian.

"They want to interview just you. I believe they want King Edvard to play a newly engaged game with you," Christian explained.

I began to panic. I would be alone and on national TV?

"I don't know..." I began to say.

"If I were you, I would go on the show. Go on there and charm the Danish people. It may help persuade Parliament to change their mind if the people love you. Also, remember the threat from that one reporter from the hospital. He somehow knows what happens, and it's up to you whether he reveals it to the world or whether you do," Rosalind said.

I sighed heavily. I really didn't want to go on the TV show.

"So I have to go on national TV and tell everyone what happened...?" I said trailing. I didn't want to mention my miscarriage with Christian right there.

"Thank you, Christian. You can let them know that Paige accepts their invitation," Rosalind said, dismissing him.

Christian nodded his head and left the room, closing the door behind him.

"I don't want to tell everyone what happened. I don't want to talk about my miscarriage," I said, beginning to panic.

"You can't tell the public about that! Don't you realize what a scandal that would be! A baby born out of wedlock in the royal family!? We can't ever discuss it," Rosalind said strongly and clearly.

I was taken aback by her words.

"I'm sorry that your grandchild was such a scandal," I said quietly.

"It's not like that...I'm not getting into this right now," she said frustrated. "We have to come up with a reliable story that the public will believe, and you have to deliver it in a believable way," she told me.

"What do you suggest we say or do?" Harold asked.

"We originally told the press that it was for food poising," I said.

"Yes, but I don't think that the press believed us, which is why there were so many rumors circulating about your hospital stay," Rosalind said.

"That was about in October. It's almost February now. Why does the press still care?" I asked.

"The press will always care about everything that you do. You have to get used to it and not let it get to you," Harold told me. "Your life and the lives of your family will always be the most interesting parts of the tabloids for many people. Your life and your screw-ups will sell newspapers. That's all the press cares about."

I sighed heavily, running my fingers through my hair. Was being royal always going to be so complicated?

I sighed heavily backstage, trying to breathe through my stomach and trying not to worry about being live in about an hour.

I was sitting a chair getting my hair done, trying not to show how nervous I was about going on the show. I wasn't saying anything and neither was the hairdresser. He was an older man in his early 60's. He worked very carefully and seemed to be very gentle. Part of me wondered if it was because I would be part of the royal family one day. Desiree would sometimes refer to me as "Her Royal Highness." Whenever she did that, I would always tell her to just call me Paige. The title made me cringe slightly since it wasn't who I was- I'm not royal and I will never be royal. It doesn't matter if Eddie and I stay in Denmark or not.

"Are those your children?" I asked him, motioning to a picture off to the side.

He simply nodded and smiled at me, continuing his work.

"They are very beautiful," I said, trying to continue the conversation.

Once again, he simply smiled and nodded at me. I didn't understand why he wasn't responding even though I was speaking to him. Was he not allowed to speak to me or any of the guests?

"I no English," he finally said.

"Ohhhh," I said to show that I understood.

"Er disse dine børn?" I asked. (Are those your children?)

"Ja," he said. (Yes). He continued to speak in Danish with me.

"Mit dansk er ikke godt," I replied. (My Danish is not good).

He laughed.

"Then we no can speak," he said, still laughing. "We both need practice."

"Yes, we do," I replied, smiling.

"One day, you speak Danish, and I speak English," he said with his very broken English.

"Yes, one day we will be able to speak them and have a conversation!" I said smiling.

"Yes," he said, but I'm not sure if he understood me.

I took a deep breath and tried to remember everything that Desiree and Harold had coached me on- what to say and what not to say. We were given a list of questions that would be asked so I could have my answers rehearsed and memorized. However, my answers couldn't sound rehearsed or memorized. I had my legs crossed, and I began to shake my leg out of nervousness.

"15 minutes!" I heard a crew member say.

"Is she back here?" I heard Eddie's voice say.

I turned around and saw Eddie.

"Hey," I said turning around.

"No turn," the hairdresser said.

"Sorry," I said facing the mirror again.

"You're on in about ten minutes," Eddie told me.

"I know," I said trying to appear calm.

"Just take a few deep breaths and remember...umm...everything and you'll do fine," he told me reassuringly. "I'll be out there with you later during the session."

I nodded to show that I understood. Eddie was acting strange and looked down at the ground at lot. Was he nervous that I was going to mess this up?

"Is she ready?" A worker came back and asked in Danish.

"Now," he replied in English. He put down the heat styling tools and gave me some lipstick to put on. "Now and then you ready," he told me.

I put on the lipstick as I was told and then I got up out of the chair.

"You look beautiful. Go out there and charm Denmark," Eddie told me smiling. "I'd kiss you, but I think it would mess up your lipstick."

"Yes, and then you don't want to go out with lipstick on," I said smiling.

"Miss, we are ready," a worker said, gently guiding me to the entrance of the stage.

My heart was racing a thousand miles a minute. I could hear it in my ears, and it was pounding. Like Eddie instructed, I took a few deep breaths.

"Tonight, we have a surprise and a very special guest. We are lucky that she was able to come on such short notice. She stole the King of Denmark's heart and now she is going to take the time to talk to us. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm round of applause for Paige Morgan!" The host said to the audience.

The audience began cheering and clapping, and I knew that was my cue to walk out on the stage. I put on a smile and began to walk gracefully across the stage as I had practiced with Desiree and Harold. I turned to the audience and waved at them, which caused them to cheer even louder.

I was wearing a long black skits that was slenderizing and complemented my figure along with a white button down blouse. It was "chic" but classy, according to the stylist.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you," I said shaking the host's hand, Noel, and sitting down in the seat. I immediately crossed my legs out of habit, but I could remember Desiree correcting me. Apparently, royals do not cross their legs. I can cross them at the ankles.

"Thanks for coming on such short notice," Noel told me, gathering some of his note cards.

"Thanks for inviting me," I replied, nervously putting a strange of hair behind my ear.

"So, Paige, you are living a real fairy-tale. You are engaged to the King of Denmark. How does that feel?" Noel asked me, leaning forward slightly in his seat.

I panicked slightly. This wasn't a question that Desiree and I had gone over and practiced.

"I don't look at him that way," I began. "To me, he's just Edvard, my fiance," I explained, hoping that those words wouldn't come back and bite me.

"So he's really just like dating a normal person? Paparazzi always used to follow you around?" He asked, making a joke.

"No, that part is new," I said going along with his joke, which made him laugh.

"That has to be weird," he commented.

"It's definitely taking some getting used to," I replied. "The paparazzi has been hard to adjust to. I'm not that interesting, I promise!" I said making a joking, which caused Noel and the audience to laugh. "And everyone knows who I am or they think they know everything about me from the tabloids," I explained.

"Yes, you have been in the tabloids quite a bit. The newest rumor is that you are leaving King Edvard to pursue a career as a circus trainer," he told me briefly holding up a magazine.

"Are you serious?" I asked, slightly confused.

"No!" He said, bursting out laughing.

"Oh," I said laughing along with him. "Yeah that's totally true," I said going along with his joke.

"But the tabloids do print so many rumors about how you met, why you were in the hospital, who you are, etc. So hopefully you can help us get the record straight and get to know you," Noel said.

"Sure," I replied.

"Okay rumor number 1," he said with his note cards, straightening them up dramatically, causing the audience to laugh. "You met King Edvard in a bar on campus," he asked me.

"That's technically true," I said smiling.

"Technically true," Noel said, chuckling at my response. "Would you like to expand on that answer?"

"I was working at a restaurant for students on campus and at night, it was just a bar. Edvard came in while I was working, and I served him some beer," I replied. "But we got to know each other from our English Shakespeare class."

"Was he a rude customer?" Noel asked.

"No," I said smiling and lying. He was drunk and asked me to take off my top, and I sprayed him with soda.

"Rumor number 2," Noel said clearing his voice.

"You were hospitalized for a drug overdose," he said.

"Definitely false," I said affirmatively.

"I figured it wasn't," Noel replied.

"Yeah that isn't true at all. Ummmm...," I began to say. My heart was pounding now. This was the question that I dreaded the most.

"Would you like to clear the air or should I move on to another question?" Noel asked.

"No, it's okay. It's nothing bad," I said sitting up straighter in the chair. I crossed my legs again and then I fixed it by crossing only at my ankles as I was instructed to do by Desiree and Harold. "It was just a really bad anxiety and panic attack," I lied. "I woke up in the night just not being able to breathe and the room was spinning. It didn't stop, and it was decided to take me to the hospital," I explained.

"Are you doing better with your anxiety?" Noel asked, sympathetic.

It worked; I thought to myself. He believed me.

"Yes. I'm doing a lot better. I think I was overwhelmed by everything that had been happening, and I had midterms coming up...It was just a lot to take in," I explained.

"Well, I'm glad that you are doing better now. I've personally struggled with anxiety too. It isn't fun," Noel said sympathetically.

"No, it isn't," I replied looking down at the ground.

Did I pull it off? Did he believe me? Did Denmark believe me?

"One other rumor that you might want to clear is that your pregnant," Noel said laughing.

"No, I'm not," I said smiling.

"You know, I have never met a woman who is pregnant multiple times a year, according to the tabloids," he said laughing at his joke.

"I'm glad someone finds the tabloids amusing," I said smiling and nervously putting a piece of hair behind my ear.

"You don't find it amusing when they say you're pregnant, going to leave King Edvard to join the circus, or that you're going a reality TV show?" he asked, and the audience laughed at his approach and the way he worded the question.

"I haven't the reality TV show one. That's new," I said and the audience began to laugh.

"No one told you about that one?" Noel asked.

"No and I try to stay as far away from the tabloids as much as possible. I personally don't find them amusing. It's frustrating. I even had a classmate congratulate me on the baby a few weeks ago, and I was like- what baby?"

This caused Noel and the audience to burst out laughing.

"Surprise! You're having a baby? No one told you yet!?" Noel said, laughing at his own joke.

"Yeah! I didn't know! Thanks for letting me know," I said, going along with the joke.

"Do you ever have to explain to King Edvard about the tabloids and vise versa?" Noel asked me.

"Yeah, sometimes," I said, thinking of the time the picture of me kissing Jake was photo shopped. "I feel like the tabloids are always against us," I replied.

"Like what was published this afternoon?" Noel asked me.

"What was published this afternoon?" I grumbled, panicking slightly. I had stayed off social media, and I hadn't watched the news today.

"King Edvard having lunch with his ex-girlfriend," he told me. "But the tabloids think it means they are getting back together, especially since Parliament denied your marriage. We'll discuss the issue with Parliament in a little bit."

Eddie had lunch with his ex-girlfriend!? When did he do this? Why did he do this? He had some explaining to do...

"Of course, the tabloids think that," I said very calmly even though I was furious inside. "I'm having an affair, he's having an affair. According to them, it's a miracle we are still together," I said slightly angry but keeping my composure.

"Alright folk, we'll right back after this short commercial break. This time, King Edvard will join us, and we'll play the Couple Game," he told the camera.

The "on-air" light went off, and I heaved a sigh of relief. I had survived the interview alone. I really wanted to see the tabloid article about Eddie having lunch with his ex-girlfriend, but I didn't want to ask to see it. If I did, then that would be in the tabloids by tomorrow and how I didn't trust Eddie. Did he really eat lunch with her? Was it just them? Did he reach to her or did she reach to him? Could he possible even be cheating on me?


	8. Chapter 8

The crowd began cheering as the "on-air" sign went back on. I put on my happy face and looked toward the audience, clapping as well.

"Welcome back!" Noel yelled cheerfully. "Now, before we bring King Edvard on stage, we have a game for us to play."

"A game?" I asked, slightly confused. This wasn't discussed previously.

"So, we follow Princess Arabella's social media posts- Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and we have seen some recent posts about family game night?"

"Yes," I said laughing. "We play games together as a family."

"She said you're pretty good at XBox kinect sports," Noel said.

"Yes, I am pretty good at the bowling," I said smiling.

"But are you as good as me?" Noel said and the audience reacted since they knew what was coming next.

"I don't know," I said, laughing.

The audience began cheering as an assistant wheeled out a TV with a game console. Panic began coursing through my veins. I had to play Xbox Kinect on national TV? AND Eddie had lunch with his ex-girlfriend today? He told me that he was busy and that WE couldn't have lunch together. I was trying to hide my anger and act like everything was fine.

After playing Kinect Table Tennis and winning against Noel (not sure how much of that was completely staged since he seemed to miss some easy shots), we took another commercial break. During the commercial break, they took away the TV and brought out another chair for Eddie. I had so many questions for him. I hoped there was a reasonable answer for why he had lunch with his ex-girlfriend. Could it be possible that he was cheating on me?

The on-air sign went on and the crowd went wild as Eddie walked out onto the stage. He waved to the audience and then shook Noel's hand. He also gave me a kiss on the cheek before he sat down.

"King Edvard, thank you so much for joining us today," Noel said.

"My pleasure. Thanks for having me," Eddie replied.

"So I heard that we are having a royal wedding in Denmark sometime soon," he said winking. "Can you tell your good friend Noel when the date is. Just ignore all the other people here!" He said, brushing them off, making the audience laugh.

"We have actually picked a date," Eddie said smiling, and the crowd went while.

"Seriously?" Noel asked. "The Danish people have been waiting for this forever! Do tell do tell," he said leaning in for us to tell him, causing the audience to laugh.

Eddie looked at me, almost slightly panicked. I assumed he was mixing up our real date with the fake date.

"It's July 24th," I said, taking Eddie's hand. Even though I was mad at him for having lunch with his ex-girlfriend and wanted to talk to him, it was good for show to take his hand.

"So we are really having a royal wedding on July 24th?" Noel asked.

"Yes," I replied. "We are very excited," I said smiling. Man, I was good at this acting. I was very excited about marrying Eddie, but I was currently furious at him.

"Can you give us any of the details?" Noel asked.

"No, it's all going to be a surprise," Eddie replied quickly.

"Paige, do you have a dress yet?" Noel asked me.

"No, not yet, but I've been looking," I replied, which wasn't a complete lie. I had looked at a few dresses, but I hadn't actually tried any on yet. I went into one store, but I did most of my shopping online.

"What about all the drama with Parliament? Have they changed their minds?" Noel asked.

I turned to Eddie to let him answer that questions.

"Not quite, however, I am speaking with them and trying to convince them otherwise," he replied.

"But what will you do if Parliament still refuses to grant you permission to marry Miss Paige Morgan?" Noel asked Eddie.

"I am positive that Parliament will give us permission in due time," Eddie replied.

"In the event that Parliament denies you permission to marry, would you be willing to abdicate the throne?" Noel asked again.

"Once again, I am positive that I will not be faced with that decision," Eddie said diplomatically.

Why wouldn't Eddie say that he would abdicate the throne to marry me? He always told me that in person. Did he not mean it? I turned and looked at Eddie, slightly confused. Little did I know that my face would become a national Danish meme by the end of the night.

"You seem very confident about it all," Noel said to Eddie.

"I believe that when it comes down to it, Parliament will realize that Miss Paige Morgan isn't going anywhere and our marriage will be approved," Eddie replied simply.

I was dumbfounded. Did he expect me to stay around forever without being married to him?

"Paige, what are you thoughts on the situation?" Noel asked me, interrupting my thoughts.

"Ummm..." I began, obviously off-guard. "I think that everything will work out in the end," I replied, not very confident in my answer. I just hope it didn't show in national television.

"Perhaps Parliament will change their mind after they see you play the newly engaged game. We will be right back folks after this short commercial break," Noel said, looking at the camera.

When the "on-air" sign turned off, I turned to look at Eddie and took my hand back in my lap. I was so put-out with him, and I really didn't want to be on the TV show anymore.

"What are you doing?" Eddie whispered to me, observing my body language.

"What are you doing?" I whispered to him, but it came out more like a whispered snap.

Eddie sighed heavily.

"Just put on your happy face...we'll discuss this later," he told me.

Noel's assistant came and gave us whiteboards and markers and explained the newly-engaged game to us. They were going to give us questions, and we were going to write down the answer. The goal was to have our answers match.

"And we're on in five, four, three..." The camera man said, counting down. Eddie took my hand again, and we both put smiles on our faces.

"Alright! So we have newly engaged...well...kind of newly engaged couple here," Noel said and the crowd laughed. "In case you missed it, the royal couple has finally picked a date! Mark your dates everyone for July 24th! We are going to have a royal wedding!" Noel exclaimed and the crowd went wild.

"Are we ready to start playing?" Noel asked me.

"Yes," Eddie and I replied at the same time, smiling.

"Alright, first question!" Noel said, straightening out his index cards. "Who is the better cook?"

I wrote myself, and Eddie wrote "Paige" on his whiteboard.

"Alright, so we seem to be in agreement hear. King Edvard can't cook," Noel said and the crowd laughed.

"He's learning," I said smiling and putting my hand on Eddie's arm.

"And I have a great cook to teach me," he said leaning in and giving me a kiss on the cheek. Most of all the women in the crowd went "awwww."

"Next, what is Paige's biggest fear?"

I wrote down heights on the board, and Eddie wrote down spiders.

"Uh oh- we seem to be in disagreement here!" Noel exclaimed when we showed our whiteboards.

"Well, spiders are definitely in the top three greatest fears," I replied, trying to make it seem like Eddie didn't really make a mistake. "Heights and spiders," I replied.

"Next question," Noel said dramatically clearing his throat, "what is Eddie's biggest fear?" Noel asked us.

I wrote down snakes, and Eddie also wrote down snakes.

"We are agreement here! King Edvard is afraid of snakes!" Noel replied.

"Snakes and spiders," Eddie replied.

"Uh-oh! Who is going to kill the spiders that come into the house?" Noel asked us.

I pointed to Eddie, and the crowded laughed.

"Alright, what is Paige's favorite TV show?" Noel asked us.

I wrote down Pretty Little Liars, and Eddie wrote down The Bachelor/The Bachlorette.

"Alright, we have another disagreement. Paige, what is your favorite TV show?" Noel asked us.

"This was a hard question that even stumped me. My guilty pleasure is watching The Bachelor and The Bachlorette. But I've been roped into Pretty Little Liars too. I watch it with Arabella."

"Do you both have a TV show that you watch together?" Noel asked.

Eddie and I looked at each other. The truth was that we didn't have a TV show that we watched together. Neither of us had the time. We would watch some shows together on Netflix but nothing religiously.

"We're working through The Office," Eddie replied. It was partially true. We had watched about five episodes, but it wasn't our favorite. It was better than saying we didn't have a show that we watched together.

"Alright, moving onto the next question, what is Eddie's favorite color?" Noel asked us.

Oh crap...I thought to myself. Was it blue? Or green? In a panic, I scribbled blue onto the whiteboard.

I looked over at Eddie's whiteboard. He wrote down green. Oh crap...I thought to myself. Why couldn't we get any of these questions right?

Noel chuckled slightly as he shuffled his cards, and the audience laughed quietly as well. We weren't doing well on this game...at all.

"Moving on!" Noel exclaimed and the audience chuckled again.

"What is Paige's favorite color?" Noel asked.

I scribbled red on my whiteboard and then we both showed it to the audience. The audience began chuckling and I looked over to see that Eddie had written blue on his whiteboard. He didn't know what my favorite color was? But then again, I didn't know his favorite color.

Noel couldn't help but chuckle again.

"It's a good thing you both discovered your favorite colors before you told the wedding coordinator to get the wrong colors!" Noel said laughing and the audience also laughed. I tensed slightly, and I know that Eddie did as well. This was not going well.

"Alright, last question. If King Edvard was stranded on a desert island, what would be the one material object that he could not survive without?" Noel asked.

Seriously? I had no idea!? His phone? That wouldn't make sense, the battery would eventually die. A notebook and a pen? He always loved to write. Time was ticking, and I decided to write a pen and a notebook.

I looked over at Eddie's answer and saw that once again, we did not match. He wrote down the Fairy tales and Stories of Hans Christian Anderson. Seriously!? That is what he would take with him on a deserted island?

"I do like to write though. I see Paige's thought process," Eddie said, defending my answer when Noel began chuckling again, which caused the audience to chuckle.

"And it was a hard question," Noel admitted.

"Very hard. I had to eliminate anything that would have a battery since it would eventually die," I commented.

"I guess I should have phrased it so you would be on a deserted island with electricity and power plugs," Noel said, laughing at his own joke, and the audience joined him.

"Well, I think that would have been easy then. I would have taken my laptop, and Paige would have taken her tablet," Eddie said.

"Yes, definitely," I replied, taking Eddie's hand again. "And then we could Skype someone or message people to come and get us off of the island!" I exclaimed, which caused the audience to laugh at my joke.

"Unfortunately, we are out of time. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for King Edvard and Paige Morgan! Mark your calendars for July 24th when we are going to have a DANISH ROYAL WEDDING!" Noel exclaimed, emphasizing the last part and the crowd went wild. The audience was applauding us, the cameras were zooming out, and Noel shook our hands and thanked us for coming onto his show.

The "on-air" sign went off, and I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. We had survived the interview...barely. We both knew that the tabloids would have field day with us barely knowing how to answer those questions. The truth was- those were hard questions! Also, there was more than one possible answer for them.

Eddie and I thanked Noel and then walked back stage together, hand-in-hand. Once we were back stage, I let go of Eddie's hand, and he knew that I was mad at him. I still couldn't believe that he had lunch with his ex-girlfriend after he told me that he couldn't have lunch with me today because he was too busy. Also, we just made a fool out of ourselves on national television. Part of me just wanted to leave Denmark and go back to the United States...alone. Could we really have a happily ever after?

 **Thanks for all of the reviews! I will keep on updating the story! I really do enjoy reading the reviews that are left!**


	9. Chapter 9

Eddie and I walked to his car in complete silence with our body guards following behind along us. After tonight, I was furious with Eddie, and he knew that I was angry from my silence.

"We will follow you home," Eddie's bodyguard, Adrian, told us.

"Thank you, Adrian. Desiree, you may go home as soon as we get back to the palace," Eddie told our bodyguards.

Adrian and Desiree got into their car, and I got into the passenger's side of Eddie's car, closed the door and waited for Eddie to get into the driver's side.

Eddie began driving and neither of us said anything to each other. The silence was deafening. I finally decided to break the ice.

"You don't have anything to say?" I asked Eddie.

"I believe you have a lot to say," Eddie grumbled.

"I found out during a life interview on national TV that you had lunch with your ex-girlfriend today after you told me that you had a business meeting and couldn't have lunch with me. And you have the audacity to be annoyed with me!?" I snapped at Eddie. All of the anger from the show was finally coming out. "I feel like I never get to see you! I'm either in class or studying, and you are either in Parliament or at an official outing or in your office doing paperwork. We finally had a chance to do something together, and you chose your ex-girlfriend over me!" I exclaimed, my voice rising.

"Paige, before you accuse me, maybe you should have asked me about this," Eddie snapped back.

"What is there to ask!? I saw the picture!" I exclaimed. "And you didn't even tell me about it. I had to find out from Noel on live TV."

"Really!?" Eddie snapped. "You jump to conclusions based off of the picture!? You of all people should know that pictures don't always tell the truth!"

"Okay, so did your mother Photoshop that picture too?" I asked.

"No, but listen Paige. Our relationship is never going to work if we just jump down each other's throats all the time," Eddie yelled.

"I am listening but you're yelling at me!" I exclaimed, angry.

Eddie took in a deep breath and then exhaled.

"I did see Anja today for lunch," Eddie said calmly, looking straight ahead. He was avoiding eye-contact with me. Anja was his ex-girlfriend before me.

"So you lied to me," I said quietly.

"But it was for business, Paige," Eddie said. "Her father owns the famous historic hotel downtown in Copenhagen. We needed their support and to see if they could hold this upcoming fundraiser banquet for the children's hospital. Parliament is hosting the banquet. We weren't alone; George was with us," Eddie replied stoic, looking ahead at the road.

"Ah, the old three friends meeting again for lunch," I replied quietly.

Eddie didn't reply.

"You don't get it, do you? This life...the royal life. It's going to require me to run into people from my past and interact with them. You have to trust me, Paige. We can't always have a big fight," Eddie said firmly, with his voice rising slightly.

"I don't get it!?" I exclaimed, furious with Eddie. "I don't get this life!? YOU don't get why I'm upset. When I asked you if we could have lunch today, you said no since you had a business meeting. I haven't seen you in about a week. I understand your duties, and I understand your responsibilities, but DON'T lie to me," I snapped.

"I didn't lie to you, Paige!" Eddie exclaimed!

"YES! YES! You did!" I yelled. "You failed to mention that you were having lunch with Anja and George. You three used to hang out all the time before. Anja was your ex-girlfriend. When you hide something from someone, that's lying!" I exclaimed, my voice rising.

"I didn't do anything wrong," Eddie argued.

"You really don't think you did anything wrong!? You REALLY don't understand why I'm upset!?" I exclaimed.

"You're overreacting," Eddie argued.

"It's the fact that you had a "business" lunch with George and Anja and don't understand why I'm upset. It's the fact that you LIED to me. We wouldn't be having this argument right now if you were just HONEST with me. Heck, even bring me along. Don't want to spend time with me? Or do you just want to spend time with George and Anja?" I snapped.

"Paige, just calm down. We'll continue this conversation in a moment," he said pulling into the palace and parking.

As soon as he put the car in park, I immediately got out of the car and began walking to my room. Tears were streaming down my face, and I didn't want Eddie to see. I felt betrayed, and I couldn't believe that he lied to me. After everything that we had been through, he lied to me!? And to top it off, he didn't see what was wrong with it and didn't consider it to be lying!?

I went up to my room and sat down on my bed. Was this relationship really going to work? We came from two completely different worlds. Maybe we won't ever be able to completely understand each other because of that?

I needed time to think, and I needed to get away from the palace. I hated being so far away from home; I wanted to talk to my mother in the worst way. I knew that I could FaceTime her, but it wasn't the same as actually talking to her in person.

I got up from my bed and began to pack a duffel bag quickly. I needed to get out of the palace just for the night. I needed to think about my relationship with Eddie and clear my mind.

"What are you doing?" Eddie asked, coming into my room. He had stopped dead in tracks, shocked to see me packing up.

"I just need to spend the night away from here...from all of this," I said.

"Paige, no. Don't go. Please," Eddie pleaded. "Please, let's talk this through."

"I just don't understand how you don't know why I'm upset!" I exclaimed. "You don't get it!"

"Then explain it to me and let me understand," Eddie said.

"I'm not leaving leaving," I told Eddie. "I just want a day away to cool down and to think..." I said trailing off.

"To think about what?" Eddie asked.

"Tonight was a disaster, Eddie. When we were asked those questions, we knew literally nothing about each other. Maybe everyone is right," I said angrily.

"Right about what?" Eddie asked.

"That royals and norms can't have successful relationships," I said going back and forth from my dresser and my suitcase.

"Oh come on, Paige. That's silly-"

"And Arabella sent me this," I said tossing my phone at him, cutting him off. Arabella had sent me a meme that was going viral. It was of my reaction when Eddie said he wouldn't abdicate the throne. The caption said: The face you make when your fiance says he won't leave the throne to marry you."

"Apparently, it's going viral," I said putting my hairbrush in my bag.

"Look, I don't care about this. I don't care about some stupid meme. I don't care about not knowing the answer to some stupid questions," Eddie said with emotion, handing me my phone back. "I care about you, Paige," he said softly, looking at my eyes.

"When you were asked if you would leave the throne if you didn't get permission from Parliament, you kept on stating that it wouldn't come to that. But what if it does, Eddie!? Are you really prepared to give all of this up?" I asked him, pointing to room around me. "You always said that you would leave it for me...even if you didn't have to. I guess that was another lie," I said walking to the bathroom for my toothbrush and toothpaste.

"Paige, wait," Eddie said gently taking my arm.

I turned around to look at him, tears in my eyes. My anger was turning into sadness as I realized that my relationship with Eddie was crumbling before my eyes.

"I didn't say on TV tonight that I would abdicate the throne if necessary because the press would have field with it and with you. They would always be looking for signs that I was abdicating the throne, and you would be the horrible American who took the king away from the Danes. I didn't want that for either of us, especially you. I love you," Eddie said gently, taking his hand and wiping a tear from my face.

"I love you too," I whispered.

At that sweet moment, Eddie's cell phone went off.

"Duty calls," I said pulling away from him and going into the bathroom to get my toothbrush and toothpaste.

"I'm not going to take it," Eddie said rejecting the call. "Right now, you are more important to me than some charity banquet," he said silencing his phone.

He came over to me and gently took my hand and led me over to the edge of my bed. We sat down together.

"If you really want to go and spend a few days away from the palace, I'm not going to stop you. I'd rather you stay here though. Give me a few days, and maybe next weekend we can both get away together," Eddie said. "I think we both feel a disconnection because of our crazy schedules. Tonight shouldn't have been the first time we have seen each other in days. I'm sorry about that, Paige," Eddie told me.

"Is this going to work? Us? We both want different things, and we come from two totally different world," I said, voicing my concerns.

"Do you still want to marry me?" Eddie asked me.

"Yes, of course," I said, confused by his question.

"And I want to marry you," Eddie said taking my hand and squeezing it. "I don't care if I lived on a different planet, and I didn't speak a word of English. If we both wanted to marry each other, that is all we need to make our relationship work."

"And open communication," I stated.

"Yes...I do believe I overreacted today," Eddie said. "I shouldn't have said that you were overreacting, and I shouldn't have brought up those pictures with Jake. It wasn't called for. I was wrong. I should have told you why I couldn't have lunch with you today. And if you really wanted to go to a boring business meeting, I would have loved to bring you along and show you off to Anja and George," he said and I laughed and sniffled. "Anja originally wanted to meet alone, but I asked George to join me since is he also on the committee. Even though it was business, I didn't think it was right to meet her alone," he said. "It really was a business lunch, Paige. There was some off-topic conversation, but I promise you that 95% of the conversation was strictly business," he assured me. "I promise that in the future, I'll be completely honest with you. I'm really sorry, Paige. You had the right to be angry," Eddie told me, looking sincerely into my eyes.

"I'm not mad because you had lunch with them. I'm mad because you lied to me about today," I said. I wanted him to understand the exact reason.

"I know. I was wrong, and you were right. I won't do that again. Also, regardless of what some stupid tabloid prints tomorrow, know that I will give up my royal title, leave Denmark and marry you," he told me, squeezing my hand.

"I just feel like if you said that you were willing to leave the throne on TV tonight then maybe Parliament would approve us," I said.

"Do you want to stay here?" Eddie asked.

"I'd prefer the US, but I know it's going to be quite an adjustment for you," I said.

"And it's an adjustment that I am willing to make," he told me.

"I feel like I'm making you give up your life and who you are," I said, getting it off of my chest.

"You're not...you're not. I don't want you to feel like you are. It's my choice. You are a part of my life. If I chose the throne over you, I would be a miserable person. I love you, Paige. Please don't ever forget that amidst all of this chaos," he said, leaning in to give me a gentle kiss on the lips.

"I shouldn't have attacked you tonight in the car. I should have handled the situation differently. I was just upset. I'm sorry," I told Eddie.

"All is forgiven and forgotten," he said leaning in to kiss me again. "Will you please stay here tonight?" Eddie asked me after a few moments of silence.

"Yes," I said getting up to unpack.

Was it too much to ask to have a fairy tail ending to my story? As much as Eddie and I fought to keep our relationships, I wondered if we would get married and truly live happily ever after.


	10. Chapter 10

After our huge fight, I was still frustrated with Eddie. He said that he now understood my anger and apologized for it, but part of me actually wondered if we would have a successful marriage. I wondered if I should leave...if it would be best for both of us.

I spent the entire night in my bed tossing and turning, crying, and thinking about us and our future. I watched the interview even though I said I wouldn't do it. It was awful. We looked so disconnected and so distant from each other. We couldn't answer those questions about each other. And we were going to get married!?

I sighed heavily as I heard my alarm go off. I didn't sleep at all that night. The Royal Family was going to the grand opening of a new children's hospital. Rosalind said that it would be best for the entire royal family to be there since we want Parliament's blessing on our marriage. Also, after last night's fiasco, it would be best if Eddie and I went to this event together.

I got up, took a shower, got dressed in one of my official royal outing outfits (aka...it was extremely expensive, and I wasn't comfortable in it). Christian came in while I was putting on make-up to go over the schedule for the day. Eddie would cut the ribbon, and I would stand next to him and look happy. The reporters would probably ask us about our wedding and last night's interview.

I walked with Christian and Desiree down to the car.

"Isn't Edvard coming with us?" I asked as Christian was getting ready to start the car.

"He had a late-morning breakfast meeting. He is meeting us there," Christian responded.

"Of course he did," I mumbled under my breath.

At the grand opening, Eddie came to me and took my hand as I got out of car.

"Smile," Desiree mumbled under her breath.

I took Eddie's hand and smiled at the cameras. Even though I hadn't slept at all and even though Eddie and I were on odd terms with each other, we both still put on a happy face and made it look as though everything was okay.

"King Edvard! Crown Queen Paige! Is it true that there will be a wedding on July 24th?" A reporter shouted as we walked to the front of the hospital.

Wait- did the reporter just call me Crown Queen Paige? That was so weird to hear...

"Yes, it is true," Eddie replied.

My stomach churned slightly. Was there really going to be a wedding? Eddie had another meeting today, and I assume it was with Anja. Why wouldn't he tell me he had a meeting with her again today? Why was he lying to me?

"Let's a picture of the happy, royal couple!" Another reporter shouted. Eddie put his hand on my lower-back, and we smiled and turned to face to the camera. About fifty cameras flashed in our faces.

"King Edvard, will you abdicate the throne to marry Paige Morgan?" A reporter asked Eddie.

Eddie took my hand and squeezed it. I tried to not look at him but instead, looked straight ahead at the cameras.

"If I have to chose between the throne and my title and Paige Morgan, I pick Paige Morgan," Eddie said authoritatively. I looked up at him, surprised at his answer.

The reporters began buzzing with conversation and then began throwing a bunch of questions at us.

"Paige Morgan! Do you want King Edvard to abdicate the throne to marry you?" A reporter shouted at me.

"I...I would never ask King Edvard to abdicate the throne for me," I replied.

"But if I am presented with no other choice, then I will not hesitate to renounce my throne and my title. I will not be happy without Paige Morgan along my side in life," Eddie said firmly to the reporters.

I saw Rosalind standing off to the side watching us. She seemed a little taken aback by Eddie's words, but she nodded at me when I looked at her, and I could tell that she approved of them. Maybe, after all this time, she was coming around and accepting out relationship.

After the cutting of the ribbon, we went to the historic hotel in downtown Copenhagen for the charity fundraiser for the hospital.

Eddie and I walked to the historic hotel together since it was within walking distance. Eddie took my hand during the walk, although we began our walk in silence. I had so much that I wanted to say and ask him, but I didn't want all the reporters and everyone around us to hear.

"I have a special private dinner arranged for us tomorrow night. Just the two of us. I love you, and I'm sorry that we haven't been able to spend a lot of time together," Eddie whispered to me.

"That sounds wonderful," I said quietly, looking up and smiling at him. "I can't wait," I whispered.

"No phone, no one bothering us, just you and me," Eddie whispered again. His lips brushed gently against my ears and sent shivers down my spine. I had to resist the urge to kiss him right there. He was really trying to make an effort after our big fight last night. Maybe our relationship was truly on our way to amends.


	11. Chapter 11

At the banquet, Eddie proudly introduced me to everyone as his fiancee. It was an exhausting afternoon of acting like everything was fine between me and Eddie and acting very happy. In reality, I just wanted to go back to my room, hide under the covers, watch TV and cry. I felt this incredible pressure to charm everyone there.

After the luncheon, Eddie and I went off to a separated room in the hotel, away from the rest of the guests.

"I'm exhausted," I commented as I sat down on a chair in the room. It was so nice to get away from the commotion for a few minutes.

"It's been a long day," Eddie commented, sitting at a chair next to me. I think we were in the hotel conference room.

"Yeah, and I didn't sleep last night either," I said. "Not even for a minute..."

"Why didn't you sleep well last night?" Eddie asked me.

"Because I was upset...after our fight," I said solemnly, looking into Eddie's blue eyes

"I was too..." Eddie said looking at the table.

"Christian said you had another breakfast meeting this morning..." I began. I wanted to address it with him since he didn't mention it to me, but I didn't want to start another fight.

"Yes, it was very last minute. I just got a phone call about it when I woke up. We had a big group meeting about the opening procedures today," Eddie explained.

"I was looking for you this morning. You couldn't have texted me about it?" I asked calmly.

"Yes, I could have...I should have...I'm sorry about that, Paige."

"We need to work on our communication skills," I said. "It meant a lot to me what you told the reporters this morning," I said, changing the topic.

"I mean every single word of it. You are my life, Paige Morgan," he said taking my hand and squeezing it. "I'm sorry that I haven't been good at communicating lately, and I'm sorry that we haven't spent a lot of time together. I promise that we will in the future," he said taking my hand.

Tears welled up in my eyes as he said those words.

"What's wrong, Paige?" he asked concerned.

"I just...I've just felt so disconnected from you lately. It's been killing me because I love you so much. I try so hard to act like a royal and to please Parliament, please your parents, please Denmark, please Christian and Desiree and even please you. It's taken such an emotional toll on me...all of this. I just feel that I am letting everyone down. And I felt like when I needed you the most, you weren't there for me. This past week as has been a awful. I've had paparazzi following me at school, made a fool of myself on national television, my facial expression has become a national meme and I have the press watching my every move. And I've had the pressure from school as well. It's been hard," I said wiping the tears away from my eyes.

"I love you, Paige. And I'm so sorry that I haven't been there for you this week. I promise that we will make time for each other each night. Even if I just watch you study," Eddie said and I laughed. "Don't worry about what other people say. To me, you are perfect.

"Come here," he said, pulling me into for an embrace.

"I've missed you and your smell," I said snuggling my face into his chest.

"My smell?" Eddie asked.

"Your cologne. You always smell good," I said chuckling.

Eddie put his cheek on top of my hair and squeezed me.

"And I have always loved the smell of your shampoo. Don't ever change it," he said and I laughed again.

We looked up at each other and kissed each other deeply for the first time in over a week. It was a real kiss and not just a simple peck when we would run into each other.

Eddie began to kiss me harder, crushing my lips against his and pulling me in, crushing his body against mine. His kisses were slow, deep and full of passion and love. I put my arms around him and began to run my fingers through his hair. Eddie moved his lips to my earlobe and slow down my neck, planting passionate kisses.

I moaned quietly, leaned my head back and pulled his head closer to my neck.

Eddie moved back up to my lips and began to kiss me forcefully and passionately. My heart was racing, and Eddie's touch of his hands on my back were sending shivers down my spine.

Suddenly, there was a gentle knock at the door, interrupting us and causing Eddie and I jumped a part.

"Yes, come in," Eddie said as we put some space between us.

"Your Highness," Soren said bowing slightly. Desiree was with him, which caused him to be formal with us. "The banquet it wrapping up so I'd recommend coming back out to mingle," Soren said.

"Yes, of course. Thank you, Soren," Eddie replied, and Soren closed the door behind us.

"I guess we need to go back out," I said getting up.

"Just one more kiss," Eddie said standing up and pulling me into his chest, kissing me forcefully and passionately.

Eddie smiled at me as we broke a part.

"Let's go say good-bye to the guests," Eddie said taking my hand as we opened the door, went out into the hallway, and back to the reception.

There, a member of Parliament came up to Eddie and asked to speak to him privately, leaving me alone with several Dukes, Duchesses, and other very rich people. Back in Wisconsin, I would have never associated myself with these people. As an American and as a commoner, I felt so out of place. I looked for a familiar face, but only found Rosalind and Haarold. I wasn't sure if they would want me to join their conversation. I assumed Haarold would be okay with it, but I wasn't sure about Rosalind.

"Miss Paige Morgan," I heard a voice behind me say. I turned around and saw a male member of Parliament behind me.

"Hello Mr..." I said, trailing off since I didn't know the name.

"Frandsen," he finished for me.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," I said nodding at him.

"May I have a moment with you?" He asked me.

"Certainty," I told him.

He lowered his voice and moved slightly to the side and I followed his lead.

"Miss Morgan, I understand that King Edvard is discussing abdicating the throne to be with you," he stated factually. "I wanted to advice you that this isn't the wisest decision on his part," he told me. "The only life King Edvard knows is this one...his royal life. Have you given any thought to what life would be like for him after he gives up everything for you?" He asked me.

"I believe that what King Edvard and I discuss privately should remain private," I said.

"Since you are associated with the royal family, nothing you ever say or do will ever remain private," he told me. "The Danes take their royal family very seriously. It has been the way things are done here. King Edvard renouncing the throne to marry a commoner would not only upset the royal family, it would also upset several Danes. They are proud of who they are and their culture. You wouldn't want that on your hands, would you?" he asked me.

"If you are trying to talk King Edvard out of abdicating the throne, I believe you are talking to the wrong person," I replied calmly.

"Yes, but King Edvard will listen to you before he will listen to anyone else," Mr. Frandsen said.

"I don't quite understand what you want me to do or say," I began to say.

He sighed heavily. "Miss Morgan, with all due respect, you need to take into consideration that you messing with the Danish monarchy that has been established for more than 1000 years. King Edvard leaving the throne to marry a commoner would cause chaos amongst the monarchy and the Danish people. The Danes love their royal family. It was cause an unbalance in the Danish government. The Danish king stills plays an important role in the Danish government. Are you prepared to be responsible for all those negative effects?"

"Again, if King Edvard decides to abdicate the thone, I believe that is out of my control," I repeated.

"If you left him, then he would not leave the throne," Mr. Frandsen told me.

I look up surprised at his frankness.

"If you are so considered about the possibility of King Edvard abdicating the throne, perhaps you should speak to your fellow members of Parliament about giving us permission to marry," I said firmly

"I didn't want to say this, but people are concerned about your past and your past history with drugs and alcohol..." he said quietly but I knew it was a way to throw one more thing my way.

I opened my mouth and then I closed it. I needed to choose my words carefully.

"The issue is that people, especially the members of Parliament, have not wanted to take the time to know me...the REAL me. The only have found the time to read the lies printed in the tabloids. Now, if you'll excuse me, there are other guests I need to attend to," I said walking away with my head high.

The nerve of him! How dare he come and tell me not to marry Eddie! I couldn't wait till we left the country. I was tired of always being under scrutiny of the public eye. I loved Eddie with my entire heart and soul but the truth was part of me wondered if he was right...if everyone was right. If Eddie and I married, we would be setting ourselves up for a lifetime of unhappiness due to his position as the King of Denmark.


	12. Chapter 12

"Hi mom," I said Face Timing my mom later that night. We had just finished the charity event for the Children's Hospital, and it was very late at night. Eddie and I had just arrived back at the palace, and it was about 1am. I was extremely exhausted; both physically and emotionally. When we arrived back at the palace, Eddie and I went out own separate ways to our rooms since we had a church meeting with the priest for wedding preparation before Sunday Mass at 7am. By the time I showered and watched some TV to unwind, it would probably 2am or 3am. However, I couldn't think of sleeping or unwinding. More than anything, I wanted to talk to my family and feel that connection to home. I know that Denmark would be my new home, but I was struggling more than anything with the transition into the royal spotlight, a new language, and a new culture.

"Hey sweetie," my mom said. "You look pretty tonight. Did you have an event with Eddie?" She asked me.

"We had a charity event for the new Children's Hospital in Copenhagen," I explained.

"How did that go?" She asked me.

"It went well. I'm exhausted though. We've been busy since about 11am today with the opening of the hospital and then there was the charity ball event tonight. I just got back to my room. It's 1:15am here now, and we have a 7am meeting with the priest who is going to celebrate the wedding for marriage preparation." I said, speaking a mile a minute.

"Slow down there, Paige. You sound exhausted. Why aren't you in bed yet?" She asked me.

"I can't sleep…" I said, trailing off.

"Is everything okay between you and Eddie?" she asked me gently.

My mom knew me too well. When she asked that question, I could feel tears forming in my eyes.

"We had a pretty bad fight last night, and tonight a member of Parliament came up to me and told me how I should basically disappear so that I don't disrupt the Danish monarchy when Edvard advocates the throne to marry me," I explained taking off my shoes. My feet were killing me after being in heels almost all-day long.

"What? Why would someone in Parliament say that to you?" She asked me.

"Because they hate me and don't want Edvard to marry me," I said, frustrated.

"What did Eddie say when you told him about this?" She asked me.

"I didn't tell him…." I said, trailing off. "We finally had a pleasant evening at the Charity Ball, and we weren't alone in the car on the ride back. When we arrived home, we said good-night and went out separate ways since we'll be up early tomorrow."

"You finally had a pleasant evening? What's been going on?" My mom asked me.

Finally, I was able to get everything off of my chest. I told her how Eddie said he had business meeting and couldn't have lunch with me and then met with his ex-girlfriend and George. I told her about our awful fight and how Eddie didn't understand why I was upset at first. He didn't understand why his actions were wrong and why I considered it to be lying. I explained how I was worried about our different worlds (royalty versus the common world) and how we would be compatible in marriage. Lastly, I explained about the awful TV interview and how before the interview, Eddie acted guilty. He knew that his actions were wrong. I also explained that during the interview, Eddie said he wouldn't abdicate the throne for me but today, he retracted those comments in front of the press.

"Also, my reaction during the TV interview became a national meme," I said, frustrated and finally letting the tears fall down.

"Paige, I think that you and Eddie do come from very different worlds and because of that, you need to work on your communication with each other. What bothers you? What bothers him? I do agree that he did lie to you and that wasn't right," she told me.

"Thank you," I said forcefully.

"I do think on the comment on TV was to protect you. It sounds like Parliament is truly against your marriage and if Eddie said that he would leave the throne for you, I think Parliament would look to find more fault with you. But Eddie did see your point of you and decided to retract those statements today. He loves you very deeply, Paige. You have to know that," my mom told me.

When she said that, I burst into tears.

"Do you not feel that way?" She asked me gently.

"I miss Eddie. I miss the Eddie I know from the United States. We never see each other, and we live in the same place! We're both so busy, and I feel so disconnected from him. I know he's the king, and he has to be diplomatic. But more than anything, I just want us to sit down and watch a TV show, eat dinner together, or just ask each other about our days. I feel like I don't know him anymore, and I'm honestly starting to have doubts, mom. I don't belong here in the palace," I said crying.

"Don't let Parliament and Rosalind get into your head. Do you still want to marry Eddie?" she asked me.

"Yes, of course. I love Eddie so much, and I can't imagine my life without him. I just want to get back to where we were in the US…in college," I said.

"You know, love grows. In college, you wanted to spend every single second with each other, and now, you are moving onto marriage and potentially starting a family one day. You have heavier topics to discuss and hard decisions to make. In college, you got to know each other, and you had fun together. You are still getting to know each other, but your love is progressing and growing," my mom explained to me.

I looked at her and nodded to show that I understood, but I feel as though my mom didn't understand what I was saying.

"I just feel disconnected to him…as though I don't even know him that well anymore," I explained.

"Tomorrow, tell Eddie that you are feeling disconnected. Try to make it a plan once a week to eat dinner together and just spend time together. Go out into Copenhagen and do something fun. Rekindle that fire. You have to work on communication with each other. If you don't communicate well and just keep emotions bottled up, you're going to have a bad marriage. Maybe discuss with the priest tomorrow strategies for open communication," she told me gently and understanding.

"Okay. I'll do that," I said calming down.

"Now, get some sleep. You must be exhausted," she told me.

"I know, and I didn't sleep last night either," I said.

"I think you'll feel better tomorrow about everything after talking to Eddie and getting some sleep. Call me tomorrow and let me know how things went, okay?" she said.

"I will. I love you, mom," I said blowing a kiss to the camera on my phone.

"I love you too," she said blowing one back at me.

"Send my love to dad and Johnny and Mikey," I said.

"I will. Good-night sweetie," she told me.

"Good-night…well for you, it's good-morning."

"That's true…bye!"

"Bye," I said, disconnecting the call.

I went and showered and crawled into bed. I put on _The Office_ , but I still couldn't fall asleep. My mom was right, I needed to have better communication with Eddie and everything would be better tomorrow in the morning. But why did my heart still hurt so much?

Sleepless, I decided to go on Facebook to see the newsfeed of my friends from the US. It was my personal Facebook page that no one in Denmark knew about. I had a fake name, but it was my way to keep in touch with that part of the world and that part of my life. Off to the side, I saw that Eddie was active and online. Could he not sleep either? I logged off my computer, put on my bathrobe, and decided to go walk to Eddie's room. I walked up the flight of stairs and down the hallway to his end room- the King's room. At night, the palace had a slightly creepy aura to it, especially when you walked the hallways at night without any lights on.

I knocked gently on the door just in case he was sleeping.

"Eddie?" I said quietly as I knocked.

I heard footsteps come to the door, and Eddie opened it, surprised to see me.

"You couldn't sleep either?" he asked.

"No…," I said.

"Come in," he said, gently taking my hand and closing the door behind him.

"What's keeping you up, Paige?" Eddie asked me as we walked over to his living area and sat down on the couch.

"Just everything that has been going on," I replied sitting down. "What's keeping you up?" I asked.

"I feel really bad about what happened yesterday and our fight. I said some things that I know hurt you, and I truly regret them and my actions. I shouldn't have hidden my lunch with Anja and George…even if it was about the charity event. I wish I could take it back and make completely different decisions," he told me sincerely, taking my hands and looking into my eyes. "I wish I had invited you to join us. It wasn't fair for you to find out on TV about the lunch, and I should have said on the interview that I would abdicate the throne and living in a cardboard box with you on the side of the road. I know being here in Denmark isn't easy for you. And I haven't been there for you to make it any easier. I am truly sorry, Paige. I was being a jerk," he said gently rubbing his thumb over my hand.

"I've been feeling so disconnected from you. I miss us…I miss Eddie and Paige from the beginning of this year…from this summer. I feel like we really need to work on our communication and make time for each other at least once a week. We can't keep on going about two weeks without barely seeing each other and spending time with each other. Text messages aren't the same as face to face communication and touch," I explained to him.

"I completely agree. And our fight wouldn't have happened if we had been communicating better," he told me.

"I'm not just upset about our fight or what happened," I said. "I'm upset about our disconnect from each other. I sometimes feel as though…" I began to say and then I decided to stop.

"What?" Eddie asked.

"I mean, I don't know how your days go or what you're doing. I just want to share a life with you and feel the deep connection that we had this summer and earlier this year," I said.

"You don't feel it now?" Eddie asked me.

"No," I said. "Do you?" I asked.

"I feel it, but I do feel the disconnect that you do," he told me. "Probably not as strong of a disconnect…"

"You have to remember too that I don't have any family here. I have some friends, but it's not the same the US. You are really all I have here in Denmark. When we are connecting, I feel really lost and homesick for the United States," I explained to him.

"I never thought of it that way…" he said, trailing off.

"I know. That's why I'm explaining my feelings to you," I told him factually.

"I'm sorry, Paige. I never realized how lost and disconnected you feel."

"I mean the first time we actually kissed, and not just a peck on the lips, was tonight in the meeting room of the hotel for the charity event. It was the first time in weeks, I think. I miss that connection. I need that connection with you," I explained.

"You're right. We have been pretty disconnected from each other…" Eddie said quietly. "I'm sorry," he said sighing heavily. "I'm really sorry that I haven't been there for you and that you've been carrying this around with you."

"It's not your fault. I wasn't communicating my feelings to you. I kept them bottled up," I said.

"I am going to clear my schedule for tomorrow. I want to spend the entire Sunday with you before the week starts," he told me, getting up to get his phone.

"You don't have to change everything-" I started to say.

"No, Paige. I want to spend the entire day with you with no interruptions and no meetings. We both need it. Let's re-create what we had this summer," he said. "I'm still the same Eddie. We are still Eddie and Paige," he said coming back over to me.

His words made me teary-eyed.

"You would cancel you weekly meeting with the Prime Minister and your meeting with the King of Algeria? Aren't they important?" I asked.

"You are the most important person in my life, and I have been neglecting you. I am very sorry, Paige," he said sitting down and taking my hands in his.

"I've been neglecting you too. It's both of our faults," I told him.

"I suppose a medical student and a King don't have the most flexible schedules," Eddie said chuckling.

"No," I said smiling at him.

"I promise you that we will sit down and have a conversation every single day. I also promise that we will have a weekly date night and to communicate with you. Finally, I promise to love you until I take my last breath. I hope you realize how deeply I love you," he told sincerely looking into my eyes.

I took every once of my being to not kiss him right there and then. I wanted to tell Eddie how much I loved him as well and promise him that I will keep open communication with him.

"I promise to never tell you that I don't have time for our conversations or our date nights. I promise to keep open communication with you and to not bottle up my emotions. I promise to love you with every once of my being until I take my last breath. I love you so much. I never thought it would be possible to love and care for someone this much," I said leaning in to kiss him passionately.

I put my hands through his hair, and Eddie pulled me closer to him. His kisses were electric and passionate.

"Don't stop," I whispered to him when we broke apart, out noses touching.

"I wasn't planning on it," he said nuzzling my neck, sending shivers down my spine.

"I've missed you," he whispered to me, gently kissing my ear.

"I've missed you too," I said leaning into him and leaning my neck back for him.

Eddie's lips worked his way from my neck to my lips where we resumed our passionate, electrifying kissing.

"We're not going to get any sleep tonight," I said smiling in-between the kisses.

"That's okay," he said moving me onto his lap and picking me up. I couldn't help but laugh with giddiness and happiness when Eddie abruptly stood up and picked me up with him. I put my arms around his neck, my head on his shoulder and gently kissed his neck as Eddie carried me to his bedroom and placed me gently down his bed where we made passionate love.


	13. Chapter 13

"I'm going to miss you," I said as Eddie packed up a suitcase. "What am I going to do without you for an entire week?" I said taking his hand sweetly.

"I'll miss you too. I'll FaceTime with you every single day," he said leaning in to give me a quick peck on the lips. "Come with me," he whispered in my ear.

"If I didn't have class or my internship, I would in a heartbeat," I replied.

Eddie smiled at me and went back to his dresser to continue packing. Eddie had to go out of town to England for an important meeting with the King of England. Eddie wanted England and Denmark to closer together on improving their relations and making a deal on exports and imports between the two countries.

After our fight, Eddie and I had really been working on communication with one another. We made an effort to have a date night at least once a week and to eat dinner together nightly or watch some TV together nightly. Some nights, there were flukes in our plans but for the most part, we were able to maintain our commitments to each other. As a result, our relationship was improving, and I was starting to feel as though our relationship was starting to return to what we had back in America.

"Just listen to Desiree," Eddie told me. "She'll keep you safe."

"I was worried that you were going to say that I needed to listen to your mother," I said jokingly.

"I would never suggest such a horrid thing," he said making a face.

"She's trying to make things right with us though," I said gently. Rosalind had been trying to make amends with me and Eddie after the press released the fake picture of me kissing Jake. Rosalind had wanted Kirsten to work with the press and release something to destroy our relationship so that Eddie and I would break-up, and he would marry Kirsten.

 _Author's note: Above plot line was in Prince and Me Fanfiction (Part 2)_

"She's trying, but she can un-do all the pain that she's done," Eddie replied.

"I know…" I said drawing my legs into my chest.

"I promise we'll FaceTime every single night. I love you," he said as he zipped out his suitcase and pulled out the handle to pull it.

I got up, went over to him and put my arms around him.

"I love you too," I said as I leaned in to kiss him passionately.

We were interrupted by a knock on the door. Eddie went over to open it and saw Soren standing there is his notebook and pen.

"Unfortunately, Edvard, we are behind schedule. We need to leave for the airport immediately. The pilot is waiting for you on the royal plane," he told Eddie.

Eddie took his suitcase and started to pull it out into the hallway. I followed shortly behind him, and Eddie took my hand. We walked down the staircase and outside to the car that was waiting for him. The driver took Eddie's suitcase and then Eddie turned to me and kissed me one last time before he left.

"It's just a week. I'll be back before you know it," Eddie said.

"Just a week," I said leaning into his chest for one last hug.

"Sir, we really need to go," Soren said to Eddie.

Eddie started to walk toward the car and only let go of my hand when we were far enough a part to no longer hold hands. I stood and waited till the car was off in the distance.

"So, it's going to be a whole week without Eddie and living in a palace with his mother," I said quietly to Soren.

"It's not going to be _that_ bad. We will stick together. Arabella will be around and so will King Haarold. Plus, between your classes and your internship, you are almost never home," Soren said.

"That's true. I'm actually going to Sarah and Clara's apartment later tonight to watch _The Bachelor._ I may just get drunk and spend the night there," I said smiling at Soren's reaction when I mentioned "getting drunk."

"Promise me you won't use that phrase around Queen Rosalind," Soren said cracking a smile.

"I was planning on saying it at least five times," I said laughing as we were walking into the palace.

Later that night I was over at Sarah and Clara's to watch the season finale of _The Bachelor._ We made frozen mozzarella sticks, had chips and queso, had ordered a pizza, and brought lots and lots of wine and beer. It was going to be a girl's night.

"So what does it feel like to be eating normal people junk food and doing a normal girl's night?" Clara asked me.

"It feels great," I said taking a piece of pizza and a beer and sitting down on the couch. "It feels nice to just be myself, have too much to drink, and just have fun with my friends. I don't have to worry about the paparazzi," I said taking a sip of the beer.

"So who do you think he's going to pick? Andrea or Yilma?" Sara asked joining us on the coach.

"It has to be Andrea. They have such chemistry," I replied.

"NO! He has to pick Yilma! She's from Italy like my family," Clara replied, causing us all to laugh.

About half-way through the show, Sara took out her phone and joined the Twitter conversation on the season finale of our favorite reality TV show.

"Oh my gosh," she said seriously and stopped scrolling on her phone.

"What is it?" I asked and immediately giggled slightly. I was enjoying this girl's night.

"Paige, it's the paparazzi. The published a recent article about you and your hospital stay a few months back," she said showing me her phone as my face fell.

I took her phone and saw the headline that Denmark was buzzing about.

 _ **Paige Morgan was hospitalized for a miscarriage! Inside source in the palace tells all!**_

"Oh my gosh! How did they….How?" I said clicking on the story. Sara and Clara were looking at me concerned and just as shocked.

 _Paige Morgan, 23, was hospitalized early this year for an ectopic pregnancy, an inside source in the palace explained. In the middle of the night, Morgan was rushed to the hospital in severe pain and a loss of a large amount of blood. The inside source explained that Morgan's bedsheets and pajamas were soaked in blood. The palace has not commented on this recent news_.

I gave Sara her phone back completely stunned. I was so looking forward to this night, but the paparazzi always has to ruin everything. I didn't say anything and just looked at the TV, almost numb.

"Paige," Clara said gently. "Are you okay?"

"How did they know?" I said quietly, almost whispering.

"Paige, we swear that we didn't tell anyone!" Sara exclaimed.

"We would never betray you like that," Clara also said.

"I don't understand how they knew…" I said trailing off.

"We swear we didn't tell anyone. Not a soul," Clara told me.

"I'm not accusing you," I said quietly. "There is this one reporter…he said that he knew what had happened and threatened to tell everyone. I assume it was him," I said quietly. "I need some air," I said getting up and walking to the door.

"Paige! You can't go outside! You've had too much to drink! Someone will see you and snap a picture," Sara said getting up and blocking the door.

"I can't do anything anymore," I said frustrated. "I can't even have a night of fun with my friends," I complained. "And all of this news…this is going to bring all the memories and feelings back. It was so hard losing the baby. I still think of the baby…how far along I would be…whether it was a boy or a girl…what we would have named it," I said sitting down against the door with my hands pushing my hair back. I was struggling to fight back tears.

Sara and Clara both sat down next to me, and they both put a comforting arm around me.

"I am so sorry that this is happening again," Sara said.

"And now the entire country knows my business. They know what happened," I said angry. "I do anything or say anything without the paparazzi publishing an article and twisting my words or analyzing my actions. I'm so tired of it," I said frustrated.

"I need a drink," I said getting up to get another beer.

"Let's just watch the rest of our TV show and try to push this all out of your mind. Enjoy your night," Clara said gently.

After finishing our TV show (he picked Yilma) and after a few more beers, I was drunk and so was Sara and Clara. I picked up my phone for the first time that night and saw I had six missed called from Rosalind and about ten missed calls from Desiree. As I was clearing the notifications and reading the text messages, Desiree called again.

"Hello," I grumbled trying to hide the fact that I was drunk.

"Miss Morgan! We need you back at the palace immediately! Soren would not tell me your location. The Queen would like to speak to you immediately in regards to the recent news article. Have you seen it?" She asked me, speaking fast and panicked.

"Desiree, it's 10pm on a Friday night. Can't I speak to the Queen tomorrow?" I asked.

"Where are you? Have you been drinking?" She asked me.

Crap. She could tell that I had been drinking from my voice. Rosalind would kill me when she saw me.

"I'm fine. Soren knows my location and so does Eddie. Don't worry about me. Tell Queen Rosalind I'll speak to her first thing tomorrow morning," I said.

"No, Miss Morgan! We need to have a statement from the palace for the papers to publish tomorrow morning. It's imperative that we meet tonight," she told me. "We don't want this situation to get even worse or more out of hand," she told me.

"The situation?" I asked annoyed. "How do you know what happened?" I asked.

"The Queen told me that this recent story had some truth to it and that we needed to meet with the palace publicist immediately. The royal publicist is currently on her way to the palace. We just need you now Miss Morgan," she pleaded with me. "Don't make me track you with your phone."

"I'm drunk, Desiree. Tonight isn't a good night to be meeting with the Queen and the royal publicist," I said honestly.

"I'm afraid that we don't have a choice Miss Morgan," Desiree responded.

"I'm at Clara and Sara's apartment," I replied quietly.

"I'll be there in about five minutes," she told me, hanging up.

I sighed and waited with dread for Desiree. I did not wait to deal with all of this right now and alone with Desiree. Why did Eddie have to go out of town this week of all weeks?

*I appreciate all the reviews! Do people still read my updates? Please leave reviews and comments!*


	14. Chapter 14

I entered Desiree's car quickly and closed the door behind me.

"Did anyone see you?" She asked me.

"I don't think so," I replied, putting on my seat belt as she put the car into drive.

"Here, drink this water," she said handing me a bottle of water.

"Of all nights for the Queen to want to speak with me," I grumbled drinking the water quickly. Desiree handed me another bottle of water.

"How much did you have to drink?" She asked me.

"A lot," I slurred.

"Ugh…" She said as the palace came into view.

I got out of the car, ran to the bathroom, and then went to see Rosalind and the royal publicist in Rosalind's office. Before I entered her office, I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Rosalind's voice said strongly.

I opened the door and closed it behind me. Rosalind was looking at me up and down, judging my outfit choice. She was dressed in a suit dress while the royal publicist was wearing a pencil skirt and a ruffled white blouse. I was wearing jeans with black converse shoes, a University of Wisconsin T-shirt and a purple windbreaker jacket.

"I didn't have time to change," I said sitting down.

"I see," Rosalind said, piercing her eyes at my outfit choice.

"We are working on a statement so the papers can print it first thing in the morning. Before we publish anything, I would like to get your thoughts," Rosalind said. "Have you seen the recent article published about you and your hospital stay?" She asked me.

"Yes," I said quietly.

"This is what we were thinking of sending to press," the royal publicist said handing me her i-Pad.

 _The Palace is very surprised about the recent allegations of Ms. Paige Morgan's hospital visit back in October. As stated previously, Ms. Morgan was hospitalized for dehydration and a panic attack. Mental health awareness is very important in Denmark, and it is important that the Danes are here to support their future Queen as she adjusts to the Danish culture._

"I don't agree with it," I said handing the i-pad back to the royal publicist.

"Would you give me a moment with Ms. Morgan?" Rosalind said as the royal publicist got up and left the room.

"What's wrong with it?" Rosalind asked me.

"It makes it sound like I'm having mental health issues, and I can't adjust to the Danish culture," I slurred and said loudly. Crap, I thought to myself. Rosalind knew that I had been drinking.

"Where were you tonight?" She asked me inquisitively.

"I was at Sarah and Clara's apartment," I responded.

"Drinking?" She asked me, giving me her judgmental look.

"We watched the Bachelor finale. Yes, I had a little to drink," I replied.

"A little?" She asked me raising her eyebrows at me.

"A little more than I had planned on, but I wasn't planning on coming back to the palace tonight. I was going to spend the night there," I said looking around the room. I was feeling dizzy. "I didn't do anything wrong. Eddie and Desiree knew where I was."

"You are the future Queen of Denmark! You can't stay out drinking with your friends! It's unacceptable behavior!" Rosalind exclaimed.

"Parliament won't let us marry! You made sure Parliament won't let us marry with your little stunt with Kirsten," I snapped.

"Then why are you still here?" She snapped back at me. Then suddenly, her demeanor softened. She realized what Eddie was planning on doing. "Edvard is going to abdicate, isn't he?" She whispered, solemn.

"If Parliament still refuses to let us marry, yes," I replied.

"So what do you think we should do about this recent news story?" Rosalind asked, changing the subjects.

"I think I should tell the truth. If you want Edvard to stay in Denmark and if you want Parliament to give us permission to marry, I think I should tell the truth. Right now, the media has painted me as an alcoholic, as a drug addict, and now this statement is painting me as someone with mental health issues," I exclaimed. "There is nothing wrong with mental health issues, but this isn't who I am. Denmark and Parliament would love me if you would let me show them who I am!" I said with emotion, pointing to myself.

"Do you realize what a scandal it would be for the royal family?" Rosalind asked. "The King's fiancée was expecting a child out of wedlock? The media will massacre you and will drag your name through the mud," Rosalind told me firmly.

"Times have changed Rosalind. I don't think it will be a scandal. The Danish people will be understanding," I argued.

"Your drunk, and you are being brave," Rosalind said. "You don't realize what you are saying."

"I know what I'm saying!" I exclaimed.

"Are you prepared for the media slaughtering your name? Every single interview and every single press conference will be about your ectopic pregnancy. Are you prepared to handle it and relive it? Are you prepared to talk about it?" Rosalind asked me firmly.

I shook my head, got up and walked to the other side of the room.

"They will call you names…The King's Whore, the American gold-digger, and every other name you can think of and more. Are you prepared for that?" Rosalind asked me.

"The people already know," I said calmly, walking back to my seat and sitting down. "My brother yelled at the reporters to leave me alone because I just lost a baby. There is this reporter…the one I yelled at when I left the hospital…who says he knows the truth and he will reveal it to Denmark. There is this story that just came out. And this story is the truth. I don't see the point in denying it anymore," I said. "You want Parliament to approve Eddie marrying me. You want Denmark to love me. I need to show them that I am a person just like them. Losing a pregnancy is such a taboo subject. It shouldn't be. I think there would be more healing for other women who also experienced a miscarriage if we could have open discussions about it. This is the first step to doing that. I'm ready to tell Denmark the truth," I said firmly.

Rosalind looked at me surprised and as though she was thinking about what I just said to her.

"But you aren't a normal person anymore. You are soon to be a member of the royal family of Denmark," Rosalind replied.

"I am a normal person. I'm just a girl from Wisconsin who fell in love with the Prince of Denmark in college," I said looking at her.

Rosalind sighed heavily and looked at me.

"You aren't going to change your mind, are you?" Rosalind asked.

"No. I've made my decision," I replied.

"How do you plan to make your statement?" Rosalind asked me.

"I'm going to write it, and then the royal publicist can send it to the newspapers. I'll tweet it too," I said.

Rosalind sighed again and went to the door to call the royal publicist back in the room.

"Ms. Morgan is going to write a statement now. She would like to write it herself," Rosalind said.

"Can you give me a few moments to collect my thoughts?" I asked, getting up as Rosalind nodded at me.

I left the room and went outside to take a walk outside in the gardens. It was almost midnight, but I needed some air to clear my head and collect my thoughts. I sat down at a bench in front of the fountain in the garden and pulled out my phone. I tapped on Eddie's name to call him.

"Hello?" Eddie asked, sleepily. I think I woke him up.

"Hey…I hope I didn't wake you up," I said.

"It's okay. It's nice to wake-up to your voice," he said.

"I just had a thirty minute argument with your mother," I told him.

"What? What happened? I thought you were at Sarah and Clara's tonight for a girl's night," Eddie asked me.

"I was and Desiree came to take me back to the palace for an emergency meeting with your mother and the royal publicist," I said putting a strand of loose hair behind my ears.

"What's going on? I'm looking on my tablet…" Eddie said trailing off. "Oh no…your ectopic pregnancy came out," he replied to me.

"It's been out, Eddie. My brother yelled at the reporters to leave me alone because I miscarried my pregnancy. The one reporter who I yelled at told me that he knew my secret and would tell everyone. I don't see the point in hiding the truth anymore," I told Eddie.

"So, you want the statement to tell the truth?" He asked me.

"Yes. I'd rather tell the truth than continue to be painted as an alcoholic and a drug addict by the media," I told me.

"I'm concerned about what the media will say about you," Eddie said carefully. "And since it's true, it will affect you more. I remember how hard it was for you when you lost the baby. I don't want to see you go through the emotional pain again," Eddie told me.

"I know but I think it's important for Parliament and Denmark to get to know the real me." I replied.

"I support whatever decision you make but make sure you don't rush into a decision," Eddie told me. "I have a feeling though you already made your decision before you called me," he said.

"You know me too well," I said laughing.

"I miss your laugh, and I miss you," Eddie told me.

"I miss you too," I told him. "Only four more days," I told him.

"I love you Paige Morgan, and I know that you will make the right decision," he told me.

"I love you too. I can't wait to see you again," I told him.

"I can't wait to see you either. You're constantly in my thoughts. I think about how much fun would have in England," Eddie told me.

"Awww. I really wish I could kiss you right now," I said smiling.

"Trust me, me too," Eddie told me. "I'm going to go back to sleep. I'll see you soon and talk to you tomorrow."

We said good-bye to each other, and I pulled up a note on my i-Phone. I was going to work on my press statement.

 _Research shows that one is every four pregnancies end in miscarriage. In October, I became a part of this statistic. As many of you know that I was hospitalized in the fall. There were various stories such as dehydration, panic attack, nausea, alcoholism, and a drug overdose. As a result of recent news events, I decided it was time to tell the truth about my hospitalization. I want the Danish people to hear the truth from me and not a partial truth or another lie from the tabloids. That night is a night that will forever be ingrained in my memory. I woke up, nauseous, in extreme pain, dehydrated, losing blood and worried because I knew I was pregnant and my worst fear was coming true; I was losing the baby. In the hospital that night, I found out that I had miscarried due to the pregnancy being ectopic. The next few months were a very dark time for me as I tried to come to terms with never seeing my child. I would like to take tomorrow to remember the women who have also miscarried or lost a child. As a society, we need to be open to having a conversation about this difficult topic to help with the healing process. It all begins by having an open conversation with each other and hopefully by telling the truth, we can begin that conversation._

I re-read my note and sent it to the royal publicist before tweeting it out on my Twitter account. I went to bed that night worried about the media stories that I would wake up to tomorrow. There was no turning back now. The truth was out.


End file.
